Bloody Kirkuk Bombings Target Kurdistan Militia

11 Killed, 104 Wounded in Car Bombings

At least 11 people were killed today and another 104 wounded in a triple car bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. The attack went off not far from police patrols, and two police were reportedly killed

But the attacks apparently targeted the group Asayish, a local Kurdish militia faction which had been threatened by the Ansar al-Islam in the days leading up to the attack for having “arrested Muslim women.”

Asayish has become somewhat infamous in the region, with reports of them attacking political opponents of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and in particular members of the Goran political party, a KDP splinter group calling for reforms and an end to corruption.

The group actually has had legal jurisdiction in Kurdistan for its operations, having been selected to target “political crimes” in the region. But in the ethnically split city of Kirkuk, its operations singling out “dissidents” have made it a lot of enemies, and made the situation in the north even more complicated.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.