At least 45 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a restaurant in Iraq where Kurdish officials were meeting Arab tribal leaders today.

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

Seven of Iraq’s 18 provinces, including key Sunni Arab-majority ones, had a turnout of more than 66% in the country’s landmark referendum on a constitution, election officials said today.

IRAQIS defied violence that killed 44 people and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century yesterday.