Car bomb kills three in Iraq's disputed Kirkuk
Car bomb kills three in Iraq's disputed Kirkuk
A car bomb explosion targeting shops selling alcohol in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk on Saturday killed three civilians and wounded nine, a security official said.
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Kirkuk is among the contested areas that the vote is planned to take in [AFP]
At least three people were killed in a car bomb explosion in Kirkuk, an Iraqi oil city where local Kurdish authorities plan to hold a referendum on independence despite opposition from the central government and the region’s non-Kurdish population.
Ten others were injured in the attack that targeted a liquor store, according to a security source.
The blast damaged the shops and sparked a fire in three vehicles.
An Iraqi interior ministry statement described the attack as “terrorist aggression” but made no link to ongoing tension caused by the Kurdish plan to hold the vote on September 25.
Kirkuk, which is claimed by both the Kurds and the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, is among the contested areas that the vote is planned to take in.
Baghdad believes that holding the referendum would violate the terms of the country's constitution.
Turkey also rejects it, saying the region's stability depends on the unity of Iraq and the maintenance of its territorial integrity.
On Friday the United States strongly urged northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to call off a controversial referendum on independence from Baghdad.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters seized Kirkuk and other disputed territories when the Iraqi army collapsed in the face of Islamic State in 2014, preventing its oilfields from falling into militant hands.
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