The death toll in the twin suicide bombings at two Kurdish party offices in northern Iraq has climbed to 67, with 267 others injured, United States military officials said on Monday.
The figure was released by military officials meeting with US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who was visiting troops in Mosul on Monday after spending a day in Baghdad.
On Sunday, the US command put the death toll at 56 based on reports received by 5pm local time. Kurdish officials have not released an updated casualty figure but said they expected the tally to climb above 60.
In two separate but almost simultaneous attacks, two men with explosives strapped to their bodies walked into the offices of the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the city of Irbil on Sunday and blew themselves up.
At the time the offices were packed with well-wishers waiting to greet party officials to mark the start of a major Muslim holiday, Eid-al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice. — Sapa-AP