Sixteen dead in suicide attack in Iraq's Kirkuk

[wookie294]

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 16 people and wounded 53 at a crowded market in the ethnically-divided northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, a senior police officer said.

The bomber walked up to people shopping at the open-air market in the center of town, Colonel Beistun Mohammed said.

Kirkuk, 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, is coveted by Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen and a focus of concern about ethnic tensions in Iraq's potentially wealthy northern oil field.

Near Baquba, northwest of the capital, a suicide car bomber killed five Iraqi soldiers when he attacked a patrol in Kenaan, 20 km (12 miles) east of the town, on Tuesday, police said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=2&u=/nm/20050614/ts_nm/iraq_attack_dc

[Radio_Lady]

1. "God, why hast Thou forsaken us?"

I am convinced that religious differences have caused this terrible breakdown in world society. I just can't stand this much longer. I feel I will just split open in pain. Nothing to do -- it's just another day in Iraq that will change people's lives forever -- ours and theirs.

The guy from the RNC who called me tonight is on the wrong team. This war is ruining anything I can safely call sanity.

[maddezmom]

2. 24 Killed Northern Iraq Bombings

By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago



BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb exploded Tuesday outside a bank in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing 19 people, including pensioners waiting for checks and child street vendors. In Baghdad, the bodies of 24 men slain in ambushes were brought to a hospital.


A suicide car bomber also rammed his vehicle into an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing five soldiers and wounding two others in Kan'an, about 30 miles north of Baghdad, Iraqi Army Col. Ismael Ibrahim said. Two civilians were also wounded.

Security forces captured a reported key member of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group who is accused of building and selling cars used by suicide bombers, the government said Tuesday.

Jassim Hazan Hamadi al-Bazi, also known as Abu Ahmed, was arrested June 7 and was part of an al-Qaida cell run by a man identified as Hussayn Ibrahim, the government said.
~snip~
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050614/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_050614101929

[maddezmom]

3. AFP: Bombs in Iraq kill at least 30, wound 88

KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) - Bomb attacks in northern Iraq killed at least 30 people and wounded 88, as the autonomous Kurdish region installed Massoud Barzani as its first president.

The most lethal attack brought death to at least 20 people in a crowd of civil servants outside a bank in the northern oil hub of Kirkuk, police said, adding that 81 were wounded.

Kirkuk police chief Major General Turhan Yusif said a suicide bomber blew himself up in the queue at Al-Rafidain bank in the city centre.

"Most of the casualties were civil servants lining up outside the bank to receive their monthly pay," said Colonel Shirzad Abdullah, chief of Rahimao police station.

The attack was carried out shortly before Kurdish leader Barzani was sworn in as president of three provinces in northern Iraq, an event that sealed their long fought-for autonomy but did not resolve the disputed status of Kirkuk, the city the Kurds want as their capital.

~snip~
more:http://au.news.yahoo.com/050614/19/upi8.html

[Just Me]

4. How many suicide attacks took place pre US invasion in Iraq?

How many have taken place post US invasion?

How is Iraq better off with the US occupying it?