A suicide car bomb ripped through the Iraqi national guard headquarters in Kirkuk on Saturday, killing 10 people in the second major attack on the northern city this month, an Iraqi officer said.
”A suicide car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 15 people by the national guard headquarters,” Major General Mohammed Amin said.
The vehicle passed through three barriers before it reached the outer gate to the headquarters and exploded, sending shrapnel flying toward young national guard recruits lined up outside.
Ambulances raced to the scene and police fired warning shots in the air.
A suicide car bomb outside a police station in the oil-rich northern city killed 17 people on September 4 .
New recruits for the national guard and police repeatedly find themselves in harm’s way as insurgents target the long lines of job-seekers waiting outside recruitment centres.
On Tuesday in Baghdad, a car bomb killed 49 people outside a police station, many of them potential new recruits.
Mortar shell hits school
Nine people were wounded when a mortar shell struck a crowd of students and parents awaiting exam results in front of a school in the Iraqi city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.
”A mortar shell exploded near the secretary’s office, wounding several people,” said local police chief General Walid Khaled Abdelsalam.
Hospital officials said nine people had been brought in with shrapnel wounds.
The city has been one of Iraq’s major trouble spots for months, with relentless attacks against Iraqi security forces and United States troops.
On September 14, 12 Iraqi policemen and their driver were killed in Baquba when gunmen sprayed their vehicle with bullets.
Blast in Baghdad
Meanwhile, a loud explosion echoed across the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, early on Saturday.
A plume of white smoke could be seen billowing from the apparent site of the blast around Baghdad’s Karradah neighbourhood.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the explosion. — Sapa-AP, Sapa-AFP