Arbil Bombing Kills at Least 50 People, Military Says (Update1)
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- At least 50 people were killed today and many others wounded in a suicide bombing in Iraq's northern Kurdish city of Arbil, the U.S. military said, the biggest attack since the country's Jan. 30 National Assembly election.
The bomb went off at a police recruitment center located in a local office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, U.S. military spokesman Captain Mark Walter said in a telephone interview from Mosul, citing initial figures obtained by a U.S. civil liaison officer in Arbil. As many as 150 were wounded, the Associated Press cited al-Arabiya television as saying.
An unidentified police official told al-Jazeera that 60 people had died, while a medical doctor said 45 have been killed, the Qatar-based television reported. Al-Jazeera showed video of ambulances taking victims from the scene and said the death toll is expected to rise as many were seriously wounded.
The assault brings to about 200 the number of people killed by militants since the approval last week of a partial list of cabinet members in the new Iraqi government, AP reported. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and his 29 ministers were sworn in yesterday even as 6 posts, including the oil and defense ministries, remained unfilled because of differences between Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders.
Al-Jaafari said the Defense portfolio will go to a member of the Sunni Arab minority, to correct an imbalance of power following a low Sunni turnout in the Jan. 30 poll. The move is also an attempt to stem Iraq's Sunni-led insurgency.
Targets
The explosion in Arbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of the capital Baghdad, occurred at 9 a.m. local time between the Sheraton and Zeytoun hotels, damaging nearby building and cars, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said on its Web site.
Insurgents frequently target police and army recruits, as well as members of Iraq's security forces, all of whom they see as being collaborators with U.S.-led troops. Supporters of the ousted Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein and followers of Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists are trying to undermine reconstruction efforts in the country and force a withdrawal of coalition forces.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Massoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Jalal Talabani who is also Iraq's president, are the two main Kurdish political parties.
Kurds represent 15 to 20 percent of Iraq's population of 26 million and have been autonomous in the north since the end of the first U.S.-led war against Hussein in 1991.
Previous Attacks
Double suicide bombings in Arbil killed more than 100 people in January 2004, in what was then the deadliest attack since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Agence France-Presse said.
Separately, one of Saddam Hussein's relatives was arrested by Iraqi security forces after being accused of supporting the insurgency, Iraq's government said in an e-mailed statement.
Aymen Sabawi was apprehended in an operation north of Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, earlier this month, the government said today. Sabawi is a son of Hussein's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan al-Tikriti, it said.
Sabawi and his brothers aided insurgents by providing financial support, weapons and explosives, the government said, without elaborating. Their father, who was captured in February, was No. 36 on the U.S. list of the 55 most-wanted people in Iraq. He'll be prosecuted for torture and conducting terrorist activities, the Iraqi prime minister's office said at the time.
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- At least 50 people were killed today and many others wounded in a suicide bombing in Iraq's northern Kurdish city of Arbil, the U.S. military said, the biggest attack since the country's Jan. 30 National Assembly election.
The bomb went off at a police recruitment center located in a local office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, U.S. military spokesman Captain Mark Walter said in a telephone interview from Mosul, citing initial figures obtained by a U.S. civil liaison officer in Arbil. As many as 150 were wounded, the Associated Press cited al-Arabiya television as saying.
An unidentified police official told al-Jazeera that 60 people had died, while a medical doctor said 45 have been killed, the Qatar-based television reported. Al-Jazeera showed video of ambulances taking victims from the scene and said the death toll is expected to rise as many were seriously wounded.
The assault brings to about 200 the number of people killed by militants since the approval last week of a partial list of cabinet members in the new Iraqi government, AP reported. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and his 29 ministers were sworn in yesterday even as 6 posts, including the oil and defense ministries, remained unfilled because of differences between Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders.
Al-Jaafari said the Defense portfolio will go to a member of the Sunni Arab minority, to correct an imbalance of power following a low Sunni turnout in the Jan. 30 poll. The move is also an attempt to stem Iraq's Sunni-led insurgency.
Targets
The explosion in Arbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of the capital Baghdad, occurred at 9 a.m. local time between the Sheraton and Zeytoun hotels, damaging nearby building and cars, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said on its Web site.
Insurgents frequently target police and army recruits, as well as members of Iraq's security forces, all of whom they see as being collaborators with U.S.-led troops. Supporters of the ousted Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein and followers of Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists are trying to undermine reconstruction efforts in the country and force a withdrawal of coalition forces.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Massoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Jalal Talabani who is also Iraq's president, are the two main Kurdish political parties.
Kurds represent 15 to 20 percent of Iraq's population of 26 million and have been autonomous in the north since the end of the first U.S.-led war against Hussein in 1991.
Previous Attacks
Double suicide bombings in Arbil killed more than 100 people in January 2004, in what was then the deadliest attack since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Agence France-Presse said.
Separately, one of Saddam Hussein's relatives was arrested by Iraqi security forces after being accused of supporting the insurgency, Iraq's government said in an e-mailed statement.
Aymen Sabawi was apprehended in an operation north of Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, earlier this month, the government said today. Sabawi is a son of Hussein's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan al-Tikriti, it said.
Sabawi and his brothers aided insurgents by providing financial support, weapons and explosives, the government said, without elaborating. Their father, who was captured in February, was No. 36 on the U.S. list of the 55 most-wanted people in Iraq. He'll be prosecuted for torture and conducting terrorist activities, the Iraqi prime minister's office said at the time.
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