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Iraqi Kurds fear bombs could shatter peaceful
Kurdistan region
10.5.2007 |
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Some Kurdish newspapers said Wednesday's bombing was
a wakeup call
May 10, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Iraq's Kurds expressed fear on Thursday that a truck
bomb that killed 15 people could be the opening
salvo in a campaign to spread the chaos gripping the
rest of Iraq to their region.
Wednesday's blast in Kurdistan's capital, claimed by
an al Qaeda-led group, has shattered the sense of
security in a region that has largely escaped
bloodshed since the 2003 U.S. liberation.
Kurdish officials said they had received
intelligence indicating Sunni Arab militants were
planning to smuggle vehicle bombs into their
autonomous region of soaring mountains bordering
Turkey and Iran.
More than 100 people were wounded when the 800 kg
(1,764 lb) bomb went off outside the regional
government's interior ministry in central Erbil.
Ethnic Kurds, who were persecuted under Saddam
Hussein but have enjoyed peace and prosperity in
their autonomous oil-producing region since the war,
were shocked to see firemen pulling bloodied bodies
from piles of rubble.
Such images are common in Baghdad and in other parts
of Iraq, riven by sectarian violence. But not in
Kurdistan -- where rosebushes line roads to
newly-built airports, families picnic at parks and
drivers get tickets for jumping red lights.
The last attack that Kurds can remember in Kurdistan
-- which the Kurdish government promotes as "The
Other Iraq" -- killed 60 people in Erbil two years
ago.
Some Kurdish newspapers said Wednesday's bombing was
a wakeup call.
"I think Kurdistan will be targeted because the
destiny of Kirkuk will be decided within a short
time," said Rebaz Ismail, a 21 -year old public
library worker, referring to the ethnically mixed
city outside Kurdistan where Kurds want to hold a
referendum on its fate despite opposition from
Arabs.
The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, an al
Qaeda-led group, claimed responsibility for the
attack and said it was in retaliation for the
participation of the Kurdish peshmerga forces in a
U.S.-backed security crackdown in Baghdad.
Kurds are allies in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's
government, which is fighting a Sunni Arab-led
insurgency.
Kurds' aspirations for greater autonomy of
oil-producing Kurdistan is viewed with distrust by
once-dominant Sunni Arabs, who fear a partition of
Iraq would disadvantage them.
BOOMING KURDISTAN
In contrast to the rest of Iraq, where
reconstruction has been slowed by violence, business
is flourishing in Kurdistan.
Markets bustle, trade fairs draw businessmen from
Europe and Canada and towering cranes dot Erbil,
where Kurds and a Dubai firm plan to build a $400
million "media city".
Kurdish officials have signed deals with foreign oil
firms that have prompted criticism from Shi'ite and
Sunni Arab nationalists in Baghdad.
Thousands of Iraqi Arabs -- from dentists to
engineers to brick layers -- have also made the
journey north and settled in Kurdistan to seek a
more peaceful life.
After Wednesday's attacks, some Arabs living in
Kurdistan said they feared a backlash.
Some Kurdish newspapers pondered how it was possible
to bring car bombs into Kurdistan without being
noticed.
Bashar Sabir, a 22-year-old Kurdish student, said he
now felt suspicious towards Arabs moving to Erbil.
"They do not cooperate with the authorities in
keeping an eye on the terrorists' operations and
they are not eager like us to preserve security and
stability in this city so the government should stop
allowing more newcomers," he said.
Khaled Kamal, a young Arab businessman from Baghdad
who came to Kurdistan a year ago, said he was
reassured to hear Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan
Barzani calling for tolerance.
In a speech last night, Barzani said: "If their
coming to Kurdistan lightens their suffering, the
(Kurdish) citizens should welcome them as we have
done all this time."
Reuters
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