Deadly Blasts Strike Kirkuk (24 Killed, 80 Wounded in Three Blasts)

Source: Al Jazeera

Deadly blasts strike Kirkuk

At least 24 people killed and 80 injured in three separate bomb attacks targeting police in Iraq's northern oil hub.
Last Modified: 19 May 2011 08:53

At least three bombs targeting security forces have exploded near government buildings in the centre of Iraq's northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing at least 24 people and wounding 80 others, officials said.

Television video showed the twisted, burned wreckage of several cars in the street as police officers picked through the debris.

"There were three explosions that targeted the security forces near the local government buildings," Hassan Turan, the head of the Kirkuk provincial council, told the Reuters news agency on Thursday. "The first was a sticky bomb on a car of a police officer, followed by a car bomb targeting the police who gathered near the car," Turan said. "Afterwards there was a second car bomb that exploded in the same place."

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The hospital source said many of the wounded had serious injuries and the toll could rise.

Another medical source said the blasts had killed 18 and wounded 45. An Interior Ministry source put the toll at 15 dead and 40 injured.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/201151973421395500.html