Suicide bomber kills himself in northern Iraq

A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up near the home of a prominent Kurdish politician in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq tonight, officials said.

Security officials at the scene of the bombing, which killed only the suspected bomber, said they believed the man was a member of the Islamic extremist group Ansar al-Islam, which the United States has accused of harbouring al-Qaida fugitives.

But Sulaymaniyah’s chief of security, Sarkawt Kuba, said the suspected bomber was not a member of Ansar.

According to Kuba, the man belonged to another group, which he declined to name.

The bombing took place on a street behind the home of Kosrat Rasool Ali, a top official in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which rules the eastern half of the Kurdish autonomous area in northern Iraq.

The explosion broke windows in nearby apartment buildings.

A nearby resident said he was watching television in his home when he heard the explosion and ran downstairs.

“I saw a man whose body was broken into two pieces,” said Abdul Qader Mohammed, who added that he also saw a handgun near the body. “He was wearing a scarf around his face and only his eyes were showing.”

The secular government and Islamic militants in northern Iraq have for months fought a low intensity war of suicide bombings, assassinations and exchanges of mortar fire.