Middle East News

Suicide truck blast in northern Iraq kills at least 17 (2nd Roundup)

Jun 21, 2007, 16:15 GMT

Baghdad - At least 17 people were killed and 68 wounded by a suicide truck bomb blast on Thursday in the northern Iraqi town of Suleiman Bek, located south of Kirkuk, local media and officials said. Police sources in the nearby city of Tuz Khurmatu said the attacker had driven a large fuel tanker into the headquarters of the chief administrator in the town. The blast also struck many of the administrative buildings around the targeted building, police officer Heoa Abdullah told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Suleiman Bek is a district of mixed ethnicities which lies 180 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, and is one of the contested areas claimed by the Kurds as part of Kurdistan. It was attached administratively to Salahaddin province by ousted leader Saddam Hussein. Independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) said at least 17 people were killed and 60 others were injured in the blast. Local eyewitnesses had earlier told dpa that the chief administrator of Suleiman Bek and a number of other top administrators were among those killed. Meanwhile, fierce clashes took place Thursday morning between Iraqi forces and militants in northern Baghdad, VOI reported. Police sources told the news agency that the clashes erupted following a blast near an Iraqi army checkpoint in Adhamiya, a predominantly Sunni district and traditionally a Baath party stronghold. 'The blast occurred near Antar square in northern Baghdad, but no casualties were reported,' the source said. 'US helicopters hovered over the area and Iraqi forces cordoned off the scene,' they added. On a different note, Iraqi writers and intellectuals were mourning the death of the pioneer of Arabic free verse Nazik al-Malaiks, who died in Cairo Wednesday evening aged 83. In central Baghdad's Andalus Square a huge obituary notice was erected at the entrance to the headquarters of the Union of Iraqi writers. Member of the union's executive board, Ali Fawaz told VOI the union was organizing a series of activities to commemorate the work and life of al-Malaika. Al-Malakia and her compatriot Badr Skakir al-Sayab (1926-1964) were the first Arab poets to write free verse. Together they are considered the pioneers of the free verse movement which influenced most Arab poets since. From 1990, al-Malaika had lived in exile in Cairo. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had told his diplomatic mission in Cairo to take part in al-Malaika's funeral, which took place Thursday afternoon, and instructed his envoys to ask her family if her body could be taken to Baghdad for burial, VOI added. Earlier her son had told Egyptian reporters that his mother was going to be buried in the family's cemetery in Cairo. In other news, the US military in Iraq said Thursday that 14 US soldiers were killed in attacks in the preceding 24 hours in attacks across conflict-torn Iraq. Five US soldiers, three Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi interpreter were killed when a roadside bomb went off near a US vehicle during combat operations in north-eastern Baghdad Thursday, the US military said. One soldier and two Iraqi civilians were also wounded in the attack. Also on Thursday, one US soldier was killed and three injured when their vehicle was attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade in northern Baghdad, the US military reported. On Wednesday, two US marines were killed while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the US military said. Separately on Wednesday, four other US soldiers were killed when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in a western Baghdad neighbourhood. One soldier was wounded in the attack. On Tuesday, two US soldiers were killed and four others wounded when explosive devices exploded near their vehicle south-west of Baghdad, according to a US military statement. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

On the Web

Blowing Up Blogs

Place your ad here
Loading...

Your Talkback on this Story

Latest Headlines in Middle East

Older Talkback

page: 1

To Noharness: THE SURGE HAS JUST BEGUN!Jun 21st, 2007 - 19:27:02

14 dead American soldiers in 48 hours. It is not time to 'cut & run' the fun has just begun! You certainly talk tough Noharness, why don't you go and fight in Iraq or Afghanistan to spread democracy, freedom and Occidental economic control? Certainly neo-colonialism is worth risking your life for? 14 more dead Crucifixers. I bet their families are happy and proud to have sacrificed their loved ones on the alter of imperialism. Noharness, your devils are stealing Iraqi oil yet the price of gasoline continues to rise? It is all a sham so that the cronies and war-profiteering friends of Bush & Cheney make millions and millions of dollars. So many wasted lives just so the rich can get richer. George W. Bush is a lying devil.

Report this comment

RealistJun 21st, 2007 - 19:37:11

blah, blah, blah

You are so warped by your conspiricy theories and lack of knowledge that it is actually disturbing. I am sure that the soldiers dying for the freedom of their fellow man is much more laudable than those Islamicist killing in he name of God.

Report this comment

AmericaFirstJun 21st, 2007 - 19:37:34

I hope and pray each day that all of you stupid muslims (shiites, sunnis, ALL of you!) will just blow each other up and all die! What a relief. No more stupid mohammid, no more stupid prophet (profit). No more stinking goat-buggering muslims. You are what's wrong with the world, not us. You are the stinking killers, Please, muslims, all die and go to hell.

Report this comment

FreedomIsNot FreeJun 21st, 2007 - 19:44:03

I agree with AmericaFirst. I pee on your prophet. I pee on your koran. I gladly pee on all of you muslims. You are nothing but a murdering bunch of worthless thugs. You are so stupid you actually believe that the shiite God is better than a sunni God. What idiots you all are!!!

Report this comment

AmericaFirstJun 21st, 2007 - 20:22:17

Yeah, all the muslims are Stupid idiots. Also Ugly Stupid idiots. Ugly men with no brains, uglier women with no teeth. No wonder the men prefer to have sex with their goats rather than with their women!!!

Report this comment

TO STILL ANOTHER STUPID..AMERICAFIRSTJun 22nd, 2007 - 10:10:24

My dear son of a monkey [according to what I learnt in school] DEATH OF 14 SONS OF POOR AMERICA DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU OR WHISHIE WASHIE BUSH, BUT TO US IT S A BIG LOSS FOR AN AIMLESS WAR.

God Almighty first and whatever country one lives in is a safe haven and worthy of defending it. America first for those who live in america, except our slaves like Yauhoodie Arabia {Saudie Arabia}, Pakistan, Jordan Egypt etc.

Report this comment

page: 1

Middle East News

Suicide truck blast in northern Iraq kills at least 17 (2nd Roundup)

On the Web

Your Talkback on this Story

Similar articles

Latest Headlines in Middle East

Older Talkback

Like M&C on Facebook

Viral Web

In Monsters and Critics

Corporate

The Fine Print