11 injured in twin blasts in Kirkuk
Four of the victims are police officers, four others are members of the Kurdish Security Police Asayish. The other three wounded are civilians.
According to Lt. Farhad Hama Ali of the Kurdish Security Police Asayish, the bombs were placed near a fuel station in the Gharnata neighborhood in central Kirkuk. They went off when two convoys of police and Asayish were passing by.
The oil-rich city of Kirkuk - 233 km northeast of Baghdad – is of multi-ethnic makeup. Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen all claim they are the rightful heirs to the rule of the city and the surrounding province. It has been hit hard by the violence that has engulfed Iraq since the 2003 U.S-led invasion. Unlike other regions, attacks in Kirkuk have not significantly decreased in recent years, with bombings and shootings an almost daily occurrence.
