Suicide Bombing Hits Outside of Kirkuk Police Station (2/23)

[radfringe]

Suicide Bombing Hits Outside of Kirkuk Police Station
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63353-2004Feb23.html
Associated Press
Monday, February 23, 2004; 3:40 AM


KIRKUK, Iraq -- A vehicle bomb detonated Monday outside an Iraqi police station in a Kurdish neighborhood of this ethnically divided northern city, killing at least 10 people and wounding 45 others, police and hospital officials said.

The attack was the latest in a string of vehicle and suicide bombings against Iraqi security forces and others seen as cooperating with the U.S.-led occupation, killing more than 300 people this year. It was the third blast since late January to target Kurds in the north.

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About 20 policemen had gathered in front of the Rahimawa police station to get their day's orders when the car exploded at 8:45 a.m., said the station's chief, Col. Adel Ibrahim. The explosion heavily damaged nearby buildings and destroyed cars.

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U.S. officials have said foreign Islamic militants may be behind the bloody series of bombings, pointing to an intercepted letter believed to be from a Jordanian militant in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The letter, made public by the military this month, outlined a strategy of attacks aimed at derailing U.S. plans to hand over power to Iraqis on June 30. It said insurgents would target Iraqi "collaborators," as well as Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority in an attempt to spark a Sunni-Shiite civil war.