Kurdish lawmaker blames Kirkuk blast on al-Qaeda

Dec 12, 2008, 18:45 GMT

Baghdad - A Kurdish lawmaker Friday accused al-Qaeda terrorist network of masterminding the suicide blast that took place inside a restaurant in northern Iraq leaving 45 people dead on Thursday.

Many women and children were among casualties at the restaurant, which was packed with families celebrating the Muslim feast of Eid al- Adha. More than 100 people were injured.

'All indications hold that al-Qaeda was behind this terrorist attack that only aimed to shake security and kill as many Iraqis as possible,' Mahmoud Othman told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

The explosion was another attempt to 'drive a wedge' among the different groups of Arabs and Kurds in the multi-ethnic city.

Kirkuk has a population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmans. Arabs and Kurds, in particular, fight for control over the province located near the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

'The feast prepared at the targeted restaurants was for Arab and Kurdish tribal leaders with the aim of stretching bridges of confidence and mutual understanding, but the incident that occurred prevented that,' said Othman.

The blast took place ahead of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's visit to the city. On Friday, Talabani met with a number of Turkmen parties' leaders and representatives.

Othman, who belongs to the Kurdistan Alliance, the second largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament with 53 out of 275 seats, said that a high-level fact-finding committee was set up to investigate the blast.

Kirkuk and neighbouring cities have remained hotspots of attacks, even though violence has decreased significantly across Iraq.

On Friday, the city witnessed another blast, when an improvised explosive device stuck to a civilian car went off. It did not leave any casualties, a police source said.

'The bomb exploded inside Daqoq district in southern Kirkuk, only causing material damage to the vehicle,' the source told VOI.

Meanwhile, two al-Qaeda gunmen were arrested Friday. Police detained Salam Abdullah al-Dulaimi, al-Qaeda leader in Samarra, capital of the northern Salah al-Din province.

A security source said al-Dulaimi, who was disguised as a farmer, is suspected of perpetrating several crimes, including kidnapping and killing ten Iraqi soldiers in al-Jazeera region last year.

Another gunman was arrested while he was trying to plant a bomb near the vehicle of Samarra's mayor.