A suicide bomber blew himself up in a Kurdish security headquarters in the first of a series of attacks in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing seven people and wounded 80. Within minutes, two bombs exploded nearby, sending columns of black smoke into the clear winter sky and ending a six-month truce in a city plagued by ethnic tensions located 290 kilometers north of Baghdad.
The city is divided between Kurds, Turkomans, Sunni Arabs and Shiites and has long feared that it might be a point of violence in Iraq. The explosions went off in front of the headquarters of the Kurdish intelligence forces, known as Asayish, a highway and a gas station in southern Kirkuk.
AP Television News pictures showed the speeding police cars with sirens howling to get to Asayish when the second explosion occurred in the area, near a taxi and knocked people down. The sounds of gunfire could be heard following the explosion at 10 pm. Gen. Sarhat Qadir police said seven people were killed, including two policemen, and 80 were injured in the blasts.
He said the bomb exploded on the highway was directed to patrol led by top commander, Colonel Ahmed Shamerani, who was unhurt in the attack. Previously, two less powerful explosions that seemed to be aimed at police, injuring six people in the Iraqi capital. The first explosion left four wounded in front of the Al-Ansar mosque in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City to a passing police patrol.
A few minutes later the second bomb exploded on a highway near the Mohammed Al-Qasim. Authorities said two policemen were wounded in a police car. The police asked not be named, for he was not authorized to give information about the explosions in Baghdad. Violence across Iraq has decreased considerably over the past few years, but recently returned to flare up almost daily. 
The city is divided between Kurds, Turkomans, Sunni Arabs and Shiites and has long feared that it might be a point of violence in Iraq. The explosions went off in front of the headquarters of the Kurdish intelligence forces, known as Asayish, a highway and a gas station in southern Kirkuk.
AP Television News pictures showed the speeding police cars with sirens howling to get to Asayish when the second explosion occurred in the area, near a taxi and knocked people down. The sounds of gunfire could be heard following the explosion at 10 pm. Gen. Sarhat Qadir police said seven people were killed, including two policemen, and 80 were injured in the blasts.
He said the bomb exploded on the highway was directed to patrol led by top commander, Colonel Ahmed Shamerani, who was unhurt in the attack. Previously, two less powerful explosions that seemed to be aimed at police, injuring six people in the Iraqi capital. The first explosion left four wounded in front of the Al-Ansar mosque in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City to a passing police patrol.
A few minutes later the second bomb exploded on a highway near the Mohammed Al-Qasim. Authorities said two policemen were wounded in a police car. The police asked not be named, for he was not authorized to give information about the explosions in Baghdad. Violence across Iraq has decreased considerably over the past few years, but recently returned to flare up almost daily.
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