Iraq soldiers lead away suspected terrorists after an early morning raid, Monday, Jan. 16, 2006, in the southern city of Basra (AP)
KIRKUK, Iraq, AP -Masked gunmen killed two people Tuesday in attacks on an election headquarters and a Kurdish political party office in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said.
In the first attack, four gunmen walked into the offices of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, or IECI, and fired randomly at employees, killing one official and wounding another, said police Capt. Farhad al-Talabani.
Less than a mile away, four gunmen fired on the headquarters of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, about 30 minutes later, killing one person and wounding two, said police Capt. Ahmed Hamawandi.
Two of the gunmen fired from a stationary car while two others got out of the vehicle and shot at party employees as they entered their offices at the start of the work day, Hamawandi said.
Al-Talabani said police suspect the two attacks may have been conducted by the same group of gunmen.
Also in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded Tuesday morning on a police patrol, wounding two policemen, Hamawandi said.
The city, about 180 miles north of Baghdad, is a hotbed of ethnic tensions claimed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen.
An Iraqi man walks past blood and glass and a shoe following a roadside bomb (AP)
Insurgents sit on the ground after being arrested in the village of Gurna, 80 kms south of Basra (AFP)
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