Kirkuk (Iraqinews.com) – Ten Iraqi people were killed and injured Sunday in a car bomb blast in oil-rich Kirkuk province, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Alghad Press, the source said, “A booby-trapped vehicle went off in al-Khadraa district in central Kirkuk, leaving a civilian dead and nine others injured.”

“The injured civilians were moved to a nearby hospital for treatment, while the dead body was carried to the forensic medicine department,” the source pointed out.

Earlier in the day, an Iraqi civilian was wounded as a locally-made bomb went off near a market in Hor Rajab area in southern Baghdad.

According to the latest casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), a total of 104 Iraqi civilians and policemen were killed and another 177 injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in March.

In its monthly statement released earlier this month, the UN agency said the number of civilians killed, excluding police, was 84, while 164 others were injured.

Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate, with 124 civilian casualties (33 killed, 91 injured), followed by Salahuddin with 12 killed and 26 injured, and Anbar with 11 killed and 22 injured.

Though most of the daily bombings go without a claim of responsibility, Islamic State is expected to be behind many.







</s>By AFP - Apr 15,2018 - Last updated at Apr 15,2018

Iraqis check the damage at the site of an attack involving a moped laden with explosives against a convoy carrying an Iraqi election candidate in the city of Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic flashpoint, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, on Sunday (AFP photo)

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A car bomb attack targeted an election candidate in Iraq's contested Kirkuk city on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 11, a security official said.

The blast in the multi-ethnic city, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, came as war-torn Iraq gears up for legislative elections on May 12.

"A civilian was killed and 11 people were injured, including three bodyguards, in the convoy of Ammar Hadaya Kahya, a candidate for the Turkmen Front in Kirkuk," the security source said on condition of anonymity.

There were no immediate claims of responsbility for the attack.

Iraqi troops last year seized the vital oil-rich Kirkuk region from Kurdish forces after a controversial vote for independence in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish zone.

Turkmens largely welcomed the return of government control forces, years after the Kurds took over the area amid the chaos of the Daesh terrorist group's march across Iraq in 2014.

Since the return of Baghdad's forces, the region has seen clashes between Kurdish fighters and Turkmen units of the Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary forces, officially controlled by the government.

Candidate Kahya is an adviser to Falah Al Fayadh, who official heads the Hashed.

Elections in Iraq have typically been accompanied by violence since the ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein by the US-led invasion in 2003.

Bloodshed has subsided in recent months, but several deadly attacks have taken place.

Four people were killed and several wounded last Sunday in an Daesh suicide attack on the headquarters of a political party in Anbar.

The Iraqi government declared victory over Daesh in December after pushing the radicals out of their final holdouts along the border with Syria.

But the group retains the capacity to strike despite losing control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory it seized in 2014.</s>Baghdad (Iraq) (AFP) - A car bomb attack targeted an election candidate in Iraq's contested Kirkuk city on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 11, a security official said.

The blast in the multi-ethnic city, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Baghdad, came as war-torn Iraq gears up for legislative elections on May 12.

"A civilian was killed and 11 people were injured, including three bodyguards, in the convoy of Ammar Hadaya Kahya, a candidate for the Turkmen Front in Kirkuk," the security source said on condition of anonymity.

There were no immediate claims of responsbility for the attack.

Iraqi troops last year seized the vital oil-rich Kirkuk region from Kurdish forces after a controversial vote for independence in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish zone.

Turkmens largely welcomed the return of government control forces, years after the Kurds took over the area amid the chaos of the Islamic State group's march across Iraq in 2014.

Since the return of Baghdad's forces, the region has seen clashes between Kurdish fighters and Turkmen units of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary forces, officially controlled by the government.

Candidate Kahya is an advisor to Falah al-Fayadh, who official heads the Hashed.

Elections in Iraq have typically been accompanied by violence since the ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein by the US-led invasion in 2003.

Bloodshed has subsided in recent months, but several deadly attacks have taken place.

Four people were killed and several wounded last Sunday in an IS suicide attack on the headquarters of a political party in Anbar.

The Iraqi government declared victory over IS in December after pushing the jihadists out of their final holdouts along the border with Syria.

But the group retains the capacity to strike despite losing control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory it seized in 2014.</s>The blast in the multi-ethnic city, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Baghdad, came as war-torn Iraq gears up for legislative elections on May 12.

"A civilian was killed and 11 people were injured, including three bodyguards, in the convoy of Ammar Hadaya Kahya, a candidate for the Turkmen Front in Kirkuk," the security source said on condition of anonymity. 

 There were no immediate claims of responsbility for the attack.</s>A curfew is reported to be imposed in Kirkuk. The individuals related with the leadership of Kurdish autonomous province in the northern Iraq have left the region. It is reported that “peshmerga”, considered armed units of autonomy left the Kirkuk.

There were reports that Iraqi army liberated oil fields and military airport in Kirkuk from “peshmerga” forces on October 16.</s>Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – An Iraqi civilian was wounded Sunday as a locally-made bomb exploded in southern capital Baghdad, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Alghad Press, the source said, “A locally-made bomb went off near a market in Hor Rajab area in southern Baghdad.”

He added that an ambulance carried the injured to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over 3 million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

According to the latest casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), a total of 104 Iraqi civilians and policemen were killed and another 177 injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in March.

In its monthly statement released earlier this month, the UN agency said the number of civilians killed, excluding police, was 84, while 164 others were injured.

Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate, with 124 civilian casualties (33 killed, 91 injured), followed by Salahuddin with 12 killed and 26 injured, and Anbar with 11 killed and 22 injured.

Though most of the daily bombings go without a claim of responsibility, Islamic State is expected to be behind many.</s>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi parliament on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send troops to the Kurdish-held region of Kirkuk and take control of its oilfields.

Kurdish Pehsmerga fighters took control of Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic region, in 2014 when the Iraqi army fled in the face of Islamic State militants who overran about a third of Iraq.

 The Kurdish move prevented the oilfields from falling into the militants' hands. 

 The area, historically claimed by the Kurds, is also home to Turkmen and Arab communities. The Kurdistan Regional Government included it in the independence referendum held on Monday. 

 "The government has to bring back the oilfields of Kirkuk under the control of the oil ministry," said the resolution voted by parliament in Baghdad, seen by Reuters.

 It called on Abadi to "issue orders for the security forces to deploy in the disputed areas, including Kirkuk".

 

 

 (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by Angus MacSwan)</s>An Iraqi Turkmen Front's (ITF) candidate in parliamentary polls survived a suicide car bomb attack that killed one and injured 11 others in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a police official said on Sunday.

The incident took place in front of a used car showroom in Hadra district, from where the parliament candidate Ammar Kahya's convoy was passing by.

Kahya survived the attack without being hurt but two of his guards were among the injured, Kirkuk Police Director Ali Kemal told Anadolu Agency.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.</s>One person was killed and 11 were wounded in a Kirkuk car bomb attack that targeted Turkmen Front candidate Amar Hadaya Kahiya. Kahiya is also an advisor to the head of a Turkmen unit of the Hashd al-Shaabi. Two of Kahiya’s bodyguards and the driver were wounded. Kahiya was uninjured.

Five people were injured during a brawl at an election rally in Raniya. The rally was for the New Generation Movement, a recently formed political party.

Turkey announced the death of a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (P.K.K.), who was killed on March 21 during an operation in an area near Hakurk and Kani Rash.

Human Rights Watch released a report detailing what it believes to be abuses committed by the Kurdistan Regional Government on demonstrators and correspondents during March. At least 84 protesters and four journalists were detained, and many were also beaten.

Shi’ite cleric Muqtada la-Sadr called on followers to protest the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria this weekend. Sadr himself joined the Sunday demonstrators in Najaf. Thousands of others protested in several Iraqi cities, including Baghdad and Basra.
• Kurdish Brothers Killed in Turkish Airstrike Among Four Killed in Iraq – April 14th, 2018
• Turkish Soldier Among 10 Killed in Iraq; 60 Found in Mass Grave – April 11th, 2018</s>BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq’s Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani vowed on Tuesday to press ahead with a referendum on Kurdish independence on Sept. 25 despite a vote by Iraq's parliament to reject the move.

 Earlier the parliament in Baghdad authorized the prime minister to "take all measures" to preserve Iraq's unity. Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the session before the vote and issued statements rejecting the decision.

 Western powers fear a plebiscite in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region - including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk - could ignite conflict with the central government in Baghdad and divert attention from the war against Islamic State militants.

 Iraq's neighbors - Turkey, Iran and Syria - also oppose the referendum, fearing it could fan separatism among their own ethnic Kurdish populations.

 "The referendum will be held on time... Dialogue with Baghdad will resume after the referendum," Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said in a statement on his ruling party's official website after the vote.

 Barzani told a gathering of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen in Kirkuk that the referendum was "a natural right", according to a tweet from his aide Hemin Hawrami. Barzani also said Kirkuk should have a "special status" in a new, independent Kurdistan.

 Iraqi lawmakers worry that the referendum will consolidate Kurdish control over several areas claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous KRG in northern Iraq. 

 

 "UNCONSTITUTIONAL"

 "This referendum lacks a constitutional basis and thus it is considered unconstitutional," the parliamentary resolution said, without specifying what measures the central government should take to stop Kurdistan from breaking away.

 Mohammed al-Karbouli, a Sunni Muslim lawmaker, said: "Kurdish lawmakers walked out of (Tuesday's) session but the decision to reject the referendum was passed by a majority."

 A senior Kurdish official dismissed the vote as non-binding though an Iraqi lawmaker said it would be published in the official gazette after approval from the Iraqi presidency.

 The KRG has said it is up to local councils of disputed regions in northern Iraq to decide whether to join the vote.

 Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city, voted last month to participate in the referendum, a move that stoked tensions with its Arab and Turkmen residents, as well as with Baghdad.

 Kurdish peshmerga forces took control of the Kirkuk area and other areas claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds after Islamic State militants overran about a third of Iraq in 2014 and Baghdad’s local forces disintegrated.

 At a news conference on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the Kurds were continuing to "illegally export" Kirkuk's oil, and he called for urgent talks.

 "I call upon the Kurdish leadership to come to Baghdad and conclude a dialogue," Abadi said.

 A Kurdish delegation met officials in Baghdad for a first round of talks in August concerning the referendum. An Iraqi delegation was expected to visit the Kurdish capital of Erbil in early September for a second round of talks, but the visit has yet to happen with less than two weeks before the vote.

 Kurds have sought an independent state since at least the end of World War One, when colonial powers divided up the Middle East after the collapse of the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire and left Kurdish-populated territory split between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

 

 (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Raya Jalabi; Writing by Ulf Laessing and Raya Jalabi; Editing by Gareth Jones)
A car bomb in Kirkuk, Iraq, kills and injures several civilians. The blast follows a bombing at Hor Rajab, Baghdad, earlier in the day that wounded one civilian.