Car bomb rocks Kirkuk, 2 killed

KIRKUK: Insurgents detonated a car bomb on Sunday in a protected enclave housing the US and British consulates in Iraq's oil city of Kirkuk in the latest in a string of deadly blasts, security sources said.        

City leaders described the two-month-old bombing campaign as the work of Islamist extremists bent on terrorising the population and fomenting civil strife in the ethnically and religiously mixed city.      

The blast, which killed two and wounded six, came overnight beside a row of shops in the previously untouched Arafa Naftiya area, a predominantly Christian neighbourhood containing the headquarters of the Northern Oil Company and foreign consulates.          

"The terrorists are no longer targeting police, army, US forces, or political leaders, but are now going after gatherings of civilians to spread fear and hatred in the souls of the innocent," Rizgar Ali, chairman of the provincial council said.

Since June, Kirkuk has been hit by a series of bomb attacks, killing dozens of civilians at gas stations, in city markets and, most dramatically, in front of the courthouse where 22 people were killed on June 23.      

On Saturday, six were killed and 17 wounded by a car bomb near a gas station.              

 "We are studying measures to control the deteriorating security situation with local elected leaders," said Ali.         

Kirkuk police chief Major General Shirku Shakr Hakim informedP the Sunni extremist Ansar al-Sunna and Al-Qaeda in Iraq organizations are believed to be mainly responsible for the attacks.   

"Kirkuk is being targeted because of its oil and its mix of ethnicities and religions that have been living in peace for dozens of years," he said.   

The northern city is a fragile mix of Kurds, Sunni Arabs, Turkmen, Shiites and Christians, who for the most part have found ways of resolving their differences through an ethnically and confessionally mixed provincial council.          

Violence had been restricted largely to drive-by shootings and assassinations, but the bombings which began in June have taken their toll.    

The fear of explosions has become pervasive throughout the city, and many merchants have closed their stores or placed obstacles on the street to prevent vehicles from parking.              

The attacks on the city come as the central government has focused on restoring security to Baghdad. A six-week-long security operation there involving 50,000 US and Iraqi forces has failed to stop the rising sectarian and insurgent violence.