Baghdad truck bomb kills 12

IRAQ: A truck bomb exploded during rush hour yesterday on a busy commercial street in northern Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and wounding about two dozen, Iraqi police and health officials said.

The attack came as Kurdish leaders held intense negotiations with government officials aimed at defusing a crisis over Kurdish demands to incorporate the disputed city of Kirkuk and surrounding areas into their autonomous region, government officials said. The talks, attended by US and UN officials, forced the postponement of a special parliamentary session over the dispute yesterday, the officials said.

The debate over Kirkuk and its vast oil wealth has blocked passage of legislation providing for provincial elections this year, a major US goal aimed at reconciling Iraq's rival communities.

The UN has recommended postponing provincial elections in Tamim province, where Kirkuk is the capital, as a way of ensuring balloting elsewhere in the country. A senior parliamentary official said lawmakers were leaning towards approving the UN proposal, and would wait for a committee to submit its recommendations at the end of the year.

Sunni Arabs and Turkomen in Kirkuk are seeking international protection, the official said.

Underscoring the importance of the Kirkuk issue, US president George Bush telephoned the Sunni parliamentary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and Shia vice-president Adel Abdul-Mahdi to urge a resolution, according to statements today.

"President Bush has been working with the Iraqis to encourage them to work out their differences," said Dana Perino, White House press secretary.

As Kurdish officials and the government engaged in heated debate, health officials tended to the wounded after the explosives-packed small truck blew up some 180m (600ft) from a passport office in a Baghdad Sunni Arab districts. It was the first major bombing in Baghdad since Monday, when three suicide bombers killed more than 30 people and wounded hundreds during a Shia religious procession.

- (AP)

© 2008 The Irish Times

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