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KIRKUK, Iraq, March 29 (AFP) - 11h50 - At least
one man was killed and 17 others wounded in a
massive car bombing on Tuesday targeting a Kurdish
official in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk,
police said.
The attack occurred at about 9:00 am (0600 GMT) as
the convoy of Abdulqader Zanganah, the head of the
city's waterworks, approached a roundabout in the
northern Kurdish neighbourhood of Rahimawa, police
Colonel Adel Zeinalbeddin said.
He said preliminary inquiries suggested that a
bomb-rigged vehicle parked on a sidestreet had been
detonated by remote control.
Dozens of vehicles were reduced to twisted rubble
and several buildings and shops were damaged as
crowds gathered at the scene and US troops ringed
the area.
One civilian bystander, 28-year-old Mohammed
Abdullah, died in hospital, while eight of
Zanganah's bodyguards were among the wounded, said
Dr. Anwar Abdullah of al-Azadi hospital.
Hospital officials had earlier said that five of the
wounded were in serious condition.
There was no immediate word on the condition of
Zanganah, who is a member of Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani.
The KDP's Kirkuk chief Najat Hassan Karim escaped an
assassination attempt on Saturday as he drove back
to the city from a funeral service in Kifri to the
southeast.
Barzani has been one of the most vocal champions of
incorporating the oil centre of Kirkuk in the
Kurdish autonomous region, despite opposition from
the Turkmen minority and Arabs settled in the city
under Saddam Hussein's regime.
AFP
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