Two suicide attacks kill 56 in Iraq

IRBIL, Iraq -- Two suicide bombers with explosives wired to their bodies struck the offices of the country's two main Kurdish parties in nearly simultaneous attacks yesterday, killing at least 56 people and wounding more than 235 in the deadliest assault in Iraq in six months.

The attacks struck in the Kurdish heartland and took a heavy toll among senior leaders of Iraq's most pro-American ethnic group.

Elsewhere, an American soldier was killed and 12 were wounded in a rocket attack on a logistics base in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, the US command said. Two soldiers were in serious condition, six in stable condition, and four soldiers were treated for superficial wounds.

Another soldier was killed yesterday, and two others were hurt when their Humvee overturned near the town of Haditha.

The deaths raised to 524 the number of US service members who have died since the Iraq conflict began in March.

The Irbil attackers slipped into the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, along with hundreds of well-wishers gathering for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.

The attack on the Patriotic Union office, about eight miles away, took place at about the same time. Kurdish television said both bombers were dressed as Muslim clerics.

Leaders of both parties, whose militias fought alongside US soldiers during the invasion of Iraq last year, were receiving hundreds of visitors to mark the start of the four-day holiday when the blasts went off.

Guards said they did not search people because of the tradition of receiving guests during the holiday.

Neither party's top leader, Jalal Talabani of the PUK and Massoud Barzani of the KDP, was in Irbil when the attacks occurred.

Although Iraq has suffered numerous suicide bombings in recent months, the attack yesterday marked the first time perpetrators have worn explosives rather than using vehicles.

On Saturday, a car bomb outside a police station in the northern city of Mosul killed at least nine people. Hours later, a mortar attack hit a Baghdad neighborhood, killing five people and wounding four.

US officials said foreign militants or Ansar al-Islam, an Al Qaeda-linked Islamic militant group based in the north that has frequently clashed with the Kurds, may have carried out the attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"We have no proof at this point" about who is responsible, said US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy chief of staff for operations. "It could be Ansar al-Islam. It could be Al Qaeda. It could be any of a number of foreign terrorist groups operating in Iraq."

US administrator L. Paul Bremer III pledged to work with Iraqi security forces to capture those behind yesterday's bombings.

The attackers "are seeking to halt Iraq's progress on the path to sovereignty and democracy," said a statement Bremer issued.

The leaders of both Kurdish parties, once bitter rivals, released statements expressing their resolve to fight terrorism together.

"These terrorist acts are against the Islamic religion and humanity, and we shall work more seriously toward uniting our [Kurdish] government," Talabani said. "We will work together in order to live in a democratic, federal Iraq."

The blasts may heighten tensions between the Kurds and Sunni Arabs. As US and Iraqi leaders try to map out the country's new form of government, some Arabs have sharply opposed Kurdish demands to retain or even expand their self-rule region in the north.

Under US-led aerial protection, Iraq's Kurdish minority, ethnically distinct from the majority Arabs, have ruled a Switzerland-sized swath in the north of the country since the end of the Gulf War more than a decade ago. Though they have feuded violently in the past, the KDP and PUK have worked together in recent years to run the zone, creating their own parliament in Irbil.

Kurdish leaders have been pressing for a federal system in Iraq's permanent post-Saddam Hussein government that would assure their autonomy. That has prompted accusations among many in the Arab majority that the Kurds seek to divide the country.

The US command in Baghdad put the casualty toll at 56 dead and more than 200 injured. Irbil city morgue director Tawana Kareem said that 57 bodies were brought to the morgue and "figures are increasing." At least 235 people were admitted to the city's three hospitals with injuries, hospital officials said.

Officials said the death toll may be far higher, with some bodies buried in the rubble or taken away by relatives.

The KDP leadership suffered a heavy toll. Among the dead were the Irbil region's governor, Akram Mintik, the deputy governor and his two sons, and the KDP Deputy Prime Minister Sami Abdul Rahman, as well as ministers in the Kurdish administration, according to Ihsan and other Kurdish officials.

The PUK's military commander also was killed, Kimmitt said.

The attack in Irbil, 200 miles north of Baghdad, was believed to be the deadliest since an Aug. 29 car bombing in the Shiite holy city of Najaf killed Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and more than 100 others as they emerged from Friday prayers. There have been a series of suicide car bombings in Iraq in recent weeks and authorities are concerned they may be the work of Al Qaeda.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, visiting the Iraqi capital yesterday, said the bombings on the Muslim holy day showed the inhumanity of those responsible. "They are not about Islam," he said. "They're about their own fanatical view of the world, and they will kill to try to advance it. But we're winning, and they're losing."