Death toll in Iraq blast reaches 10

A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed vehicle outside an Iraqi police station in the northern city of Kirkuk today, killing at least 10 people and wounding 45 others.

The attack was the latest in a string of vehicle and suicide bombings against Iraqi security forces and others seen as cooperating with the US-led occupation, killing more than 300 people this year.

It was the third blast since late January to target Kurds in the north.

Kirkuk has also seen rising ethnic tensions as Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen vie for control of the city, located in one of the world’s richest oil-producing regions, 180 miles north of Baghdad.

About 20 policemen had gathered in front of the Rahimawa police station to get their day’s orders when the car exploded at 8:45 am, said the station’s chief, Colonel Adel Ibrahim.

The explosion heavily damaged nearby buildings and destroyed cars. Ibrahim said it was a suicide bombing.

A US military rapid reaction team went to the scene, as ambulances ferried out casualties and police closed off the area.

At least 10 people were killed, all of them believed to be policemen, and 45 people were wounded, said officials at two Kirkuk hospitals. Among the wounded was a schoolboy and also four girls from a nearby high school.

Abdul Salaam Zangana, a security officer at al-Jumhuriya hospital, said 10 of the wounded were in critical condition.

As US officials prepare to hand over power to the Iraqis on June 30, Kurds are pressing to maintain their self-rule region in the north under any future Iraqi government – and to keep their militias, which they say are needed to protect Kurds after years of oppression by Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime.

US administrators oppose the maintenance of any local militias.

The 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, which is drafting an interim constitution, is trying to work out a federal system to decentralise government in the future Iraq, but differences have arisen over how much autonomy to give Kurdish areas.

Kirkuk is at the centre of the controversy. Kurds view the region as the heartland of their Kurdistan, but it also has Arab, Turkoman and other populations vying for control.

The tensions have erupted into violence in recent months.