Bomb kills five in Kirkuk

KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) - A truck bomb exploded near a Kurdish party office in this northern oil city Thursday, killing five people and wounding 30 in an attack local officials blamed on Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida. It was the second bombing this week against Iraqis who cooperate with the U.S. occupation.

The powerful 10:30 a.m. explosion in Kirkuk shattered windows and damaged doors at the two-story, yellow-and-green building of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. It also blew out windows of a nearby radio-television station.

At about the same time, twin suicide truck bombs in Istanbul, Turkey exploded at a London-based bank and the British consulate - attacks that coincided with President Bush's visit to London to meet Prime Minister Tony Blair, his closest European ally on Iraq.

Mayor Abdul Rahman Mustapha also described the attack in Kirkuk as a suicide bombing, saying the driver's body had been recovered but not identified. However, police and Kurdish party officials said it was unclear whether the vehicle was abandoned before it exploded.

Jalal Johar, a PUK official, blamed Ansar al-Islam, a militant Kurdish group linked to the al-Qaida terror network, and its allies - other Muslim extremist groups and remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime.

"We had information that terrorist Islamic extremist movements, remnants of the former regime, Ansar al-Islam and Arab fighters have planned to attack the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Kirkuk," Johar said. "Our information show that there are terrorist Islamic movements in the region other than Ansar al-Islam"

Asked if he believed al-Qaida was behind the attack, Johar replied: "In my opinion, yes."

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is one of two ethnic Kurdish parties that have supported the U.S.-led coalition. Both are represented on the Iraq's U.S.-installed Governing Council. The PUK leader, Jalal Talabani, is now president of the 25-member council.

Bomb attacks are less frequent in the northern Kurdish-controlled areas than in Baghdad or other parts of central and western Iraq dominated by Sunni Muslim Arabs. On Sept. 10, a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle near a U.S. intelligence compound in the northern city of Irbil, killing three people and seriously wounding four American intelligence officers.

The bombing in Kirkuk, 150 miles north of Baghdad, was the second in as many as days against Iraqis who cooperate with the U.S.-led occupation. Late Wednesday, a car bomb exploded outside the Ramadi home of Sheik Amer Ali Suleiman, a tribal leader close to the Americans. Hospital workers in the city, about 60 miles west of Baghdad, said two people were killed.

Coalition officials believe the guerrillas may be stepping up their intimidation campaign to disrupt plans to transfer power to a provisional government by July 1.