At Least 25 Killed in Northern Iraq Bombing

At least 25 people were killed and scores wounded in the small Kurdish village of Wardak, just outside of Mosul in Northern Iraq when a truckload of explosives was detonated, flattening dozens of nearby homes. Security officials say they also stopped a second truckload of explosives from entering the village.

It is speculated that the attack on the small village was intended to further stir the rising ethnic tensions in the region, other recent attacks around Mosul have targeted Shi’ite mosques and neighborhoods, and Mosul remains one of the most violence cities in Iraq.

The Kurdish opposition in the Nineveh Province has publicly attacked the Sunni-led provincial government in the past few weeks, accusing them of inciting al-Qaeda and turning a blind eye to attacks on the Kurdish population.

Wardak is in part of the Nineveh Province which the Kurdish parliament has also recently indicated that it intends to annex. The move has outraged the Arab and Turkmen populations of the region, which see themselves as likely to become second-class citizens if the region becomes part of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan.