Suicide bombers kill 56 in Iraq attack

TWO suicide bombers struck the offices of two US-backed Kurdish parties in near-simultaneous attacks yesterday as hundreds of Iraqis gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday.

At least 56 people were killed and more than 235 were wounded, officials said.

One Kurdish minister said the death toll could exceed 100. The US command in Baghdad put the casualty toll at 56 dead and more than 200 were injured. Kurdish officials said 57 were dead and the count could go higher.

The attack was believed to be the deadliest since an August 29 car bombing in the holy city of Najaf killed Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and more than 100 others as they emerged from Friday prayers.

It was also believed to have been the first in which the suicide attackers wired bombs to themselves and detonated them while on foot, akin to the suicide attacks by Palestinian militants in Israel.

There have been a series of suicide car bombings in Iraq in recent weeks, raising concern that al-Qaida may be behind some of the attacks. Nobody claimed responsibility. However, a radical Kurdish group, Ansar al-Islam, operates in the Kurdish region and has been linked by US officials to al-Qaida.

Also yesterday, about 20 Iraqis were killed when they accidentally set off an explosion while looting a former Iraqi munitions dump in the Polish-controlled south-central region of the country, a spokesman for Polish-led international peacekeepers said.

The blast occurred after midnight in the desert about 180 kilometres (112 miles) south-west of Karbala after Iraqis broke into the munitions storage site, military spokesman Col Robert Strzelecki said. Karbala is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south-west of Baghdad. US military officials had no information on the blast. The suicide attacks at the Irbil offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan occurred as party leaders were receiving hundreds of visitors to mark the start of the four-day Muslim holiday, Eid Al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice. Security guards for both parties said they did not search people entering for the ceremony because of the tradition of receiving guests during the Eid festivities.

Although the final death toll was unclear, the attack was a devastating blow to the political leadership of the Kurdish minority, the most pro-American group in Iraq. The dead included the governor of the region, ministers in the local administration and several senior officials and two deputy chiefs of the patriotic union, Mohammed Ihsan, the minister for human rights for the Kurdish regional government, and other officials.

Irbil city morgue director Tawana Kareem said that 57 bodies were brought to the morgue and “figures are increasing.” At least 235 people were admitted to the city’s three hospitals with injuries, medical sources said.

The latest attacks coincided with a visit to Baghdad by Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who arrived on Saturday to boost the morale of troops. Wolfowitz, whose visit was not disclosed before his arrival, was planning to watch the Super Bowl with US troops yesterday, but it was not known where.