A SUICIDE bomber killed about 50 people and wounded more than 100 yesterday, including Kurdish and Arab officials, in a crowded restaurant near Iraq's ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk.
The bomber detonated explosives inside the restaurant, shattering the calm of a major Muslim holiday and killing at least one official from Iraqi president Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, who was eating there with other politicians after a meeting to discuss Kurdish-Arab tensions.
Police said the restaurant, just north of Kirkuk, a city disputed by ethnic Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, was packed during lunch hour. The cavernous building's floor was left littered with broken glass and spotted with blood, and plates of food and soda cans were abandoned on tables.
Brig Gen Sarhat Qader, a local police official, put the toll at 50 dead and 109 wounded. A US military statement said 45 were killed and 93 wounded.
It appeared to be the worst attack in Iraq since 63 people were killed by a truck bomb in Baghdad on June 17th.
Violence has dropped sharply in recent months after more than five years of sectarian bloodshed and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 US-led invasion. Iraqis have begun to venture out and resume normal life in areas where security is returning, but militants still stage regular attacks in volatile areas. Kirkuk has been one of the less violent cities.
Suicide bombings are generally attributed to Sunni Islamist al- Qaeda.
The blast came as Muslims celebrated Eid al-Adha, a four-day religious holiday. Many people are off work and would be more likely to visit restaurants.
Among the diners in the restaurant were Kurdish officials from Kirkuk and Arab tribal leaders from nearby Hawija, who had gone there to eat lunch. One of the Hawija officials said the restaurant was crowded with women and children.