Iraq blasts kill Kurdish security officials
Explosions in a town north of Baghdad has killed six members of Kurdish intelligence forces, and wounded three others.
A twin blast has killed six members of the Kurdish intelligence forces known as the Asayish and wounded three others in a town north of the capital Baghdad, hospital and police sources said.
The first bomb was planted outside a house of a member of the Asayish in Tuz Khurmatu, Salahuddin province, 170km north of Baghdad.
When Asayish members arrived at the scene to evacuate the wounded, a bomb-rigged motorised cart then exploded.
Three civilians were also wounded in the attack, sources said on Tuesday.
At least 107 people were killed in bomb and gun attacks in Iraq on Monday, a day after 20 died in explosions, in a co-ordinated surge of violence against mostly Shia Muslim targets.
The bloodshed, which coincided with an intensifying of the conflict in neighbouring Syria, pointed out deficiencies of the Iraqi security forces, which failed to prevent fighters from striking in multiple locations across the country.
As well as the scores of deaths, at least 268 people were wounded by bombings and shootings in Shia majority areas of Baghdad, the Shia town of Taji to the north, the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul and many other places, hospital and police sources said, making it one of Iraq’s bloodiest days in weeks.
Sectarian violence surged in 2006-2007 but deadly attacks have persisted while political tensions among Iraq’s main Shia, Sunni and Kurdish factions have increased since US troops completed their withdrawal in December.
Chevron blacklisted
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has blacklisted Chevron Corp over its new deal with the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
“In line with Oil Ministry policy based on the constitution, the Oil Ministry announces the disqualification of Chevron company and bars it from signing any deals with the federal Oil Ministry and its companies,” the oil ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Baghdad says deals made with the Kurdistan Regional Government are illegal.
Iraq banned Exxon Mobil from an oil exploration operation in May because it had signed a deal with the Kurds last year.
The country is said to have the world’s fourth largest oil reserves, with parts of the country still undeveloped.