SULAIMANIYA, Iraq, (Reuters):
TWO SUICIDE bomb attacks killed at least 13 people in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya yesterday, police and hospital officials said.
One suicide bomber in a car blew himself up near a building housing regional officials who deal with Kurdish militia forces, known as the peshmerga, killing 12 people, police said.
Earlier, two other suicide bombers in cars targeted Kurdish official Mulla Bakhtiar as he left his house.
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He escaped the assassination attempt but one of his guards was killed, police said.
Sulaimaniya, in the northern mountains, has been among the most tranquil spots in Iraq, rarely troubled by the violence that has racked the country in the past two years, and has been the focus of considerable business investment.
The blast came on a day when Iraq's Electoral Commission released final results of an October 15 referendum showing 79 per cent approval for the constitution, which enshrines Kurdistan's broad autonomy.
Sunni Arab insurgents fighting the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad opposed the charter.
Kurds have also been attacked by Sunni Arab supporters of ousted President Saddam Hussein, who went on trial in Baghdad last week. Among the accusations he faces are genocide against Kurds and the gassing of Kurdish civilians in 1988 at Halabja, 80 km (50 miles) from Sulaimaniya.
Sulaimaniya is the base of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The PUK is one of the two main Kurdish parties that dominate the region.
