Suicide attack at Kurdish offices in northern Iraq wounds more than 235 people

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
Associated Press writer

IRBIL, Iraq — Two suicide bombers with explosives wired to their bodies struck the offices of the country's two main Kurdish parties in nearly simultaneous attacks Sunday, killing at least 56 people and wounding more than 235 in the deadliest assault in Iraq in six months.

The attacks struck in the Kurdish heartland and took a heavy toll among senior leaders of Iraq's most pro-American ethnic group.

Elsewhere, an American soldier was killed and 12 were wounded in a rocket attack on a logistics base in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. command said. The death raised to 523 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq conflict began in March.

The Irbil attackers slipped into the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan along with hundreds of well-wishers gathering for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.

Kurdish television said both bombers were dressed as Muslim clerics.

Leaders of both parties, whose militias fought alongside U.S. soldiers during the invasion of Iraq last year, were receiving hundreds of visitors to mark the start of the four-day holiday when the blasts went off.

Guards said they did not search people because of the tradition of receiving guests during the holiday. Neither party's top leader — Jalal Talabani of the PUK and Massoud Barzani of the KDP — was in Irbil when the attacks occurred.

Although Iraq has suffered numerous suicide bombings in recent months, the attack Sunday marked the first time perpetrators have worn explosives rather than using vehicles.

Sunday's blasts came a day after a car bomb outside a police station in the northern city of Mosul killed at least nine people. Hours later, a mortar attack hit a Baghdad neighborhood, killing five people and wounding four.

U.S. officials said foreign militants or Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked Islamic militant group based in the north that has frequently clashed with the Kurds, may have carried out the attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"We have no proof at this point (about who is responsible). It could be Ansar al-Islam. It could be al-Qaida. It could be any of a number of foreign terrorist groups operating in Iraq," said U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy chief of staff for operations.

U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer pledged to work with Iraqi security forces to capture those behind Sunday's bombings. The attackers "are seeking to halt Iraq's progress on the path to sovereignty and democracy," Bremer said in a statement.

In statements, the leaders of both parties, once bitter rivals, expressed their resolve to fight terrorism together.

"These terrorist acts are against the Islamic religion and humanity and we shall work more seriously toward uniting our (Kurdish) government," Talabani said. "We will work together in order to live in a democratic, federal Iraq."

No matter who was behind them, the blasts may heighten tensions between the Kurds and Sunni Arabs. As U.S. and Iraqi leaders try to map out the country's new form of government, some Arabs have sharply opposed Kurdish demands to retain or even expand their self-rule region in the north.

Hours after the attack, a mangled head believed to be that of one bomber lay on the floor of the KDP office. Blood and bits of flesh were spattered on the walls and ceilings. The attack on the PUK office, about eight miles away, took place at about the same time.

The U.S. command in Baghdad put the casualty toll at 56 dead and more than 200 injured. Irbil city morgue director Tawana Kareem told the AP 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, hospital officials said.

Officials said the death toll may be far higher, with some bodies buried in the rubble or taken away by relatives.

The KDP leadership took a heavy blow. Among the dead were the Irbil region's governor Akram Mintik, the deputy governor and his two sons, and the KDP Deputy Prime Minister Sami Abdul Rahman, as well as ministers in the Kurdish administration, according to Ihsan and other Kurdish officials.

The PUK's military commander also was killed, Kimmitt said.e plastic explosive difficult to obtain from civilian sources.

He said the fact that the bomber was unable to penetrate the security cordon "speaks highly of the level of security that we maintain" but that "anamolies like car bombs" are likely to continue.

U.S. and Iraqi authorities were quick to point out that the victims of the Baghdad bombing were mostly Iraqi civilians rather than American occupation troops.

"Once again, it is innocent Iraqis who have been murdered by these terrorists in a senseless act of violence," Bremer said in a statement. "Our determination to work for a stable and democratic future for this country is undiminished."

The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council blamed the "heinous crime" on terrorists allied with Saddam. "This is yet another stigma on the foreheads of the mass grave regime and its terrorist allies inside and outside (the country), who have no value for sacred things or human lives," the council said in a statement.

The attack occurred one day before Bremer, Annan and U.S.-appointed Iraqi officials are to meet at the United Nations in New York to discuss possible solutions to a political deadlock over a U.S. plan to hand over power to a provisional Iraqi government by June 30.

The Bush administration, which had shunned U.N. involvement in Iraq, has signaled it is now anxious for the world body to play a role in as Washington prepares to hand over sovereignty to a new Iraqi leadership by June 30.

Annan withdrew all international U.N. staff from Iraq after two bombings at U.N. headquarters and a spate of attacks on humanitarian targets. Annan's concern has been whether the situation was secure enough for the world body to return.

The bombing may have been a signal to the world organization to stay out of Iraq and a warning to Iraqis against cooperating with occupation forces. The blast occurred at the main gate used by Iraqis to enter the sprawling palace compound.

The coalition headquarters is one of the most heavily protected areas in Baghdad. U.S. soldiers guarding the gate usually stand about 20 yards from the road behind coils of barbed wire and concrete barriers.

Last fall, the Green Zone saw several mortar and rocket attacks, including the Oct. 26 rocket barrage against the Al-Rasheed Hotel in which a U.S. lieutenant colonel was killed and 18 people were wounded.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was in the hotel at the time but escaped injury. The last large explosions in the center of Baghdad occurred Monday when mortars exploded near the river.