Isis extends its deadly reach with suicide bombing in Kurdish capital
November 19, 2014
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a vehicle packed with explosives at the entrance to the governor’s office in the Kurdish capital Erbil today, killing at least four people. The attack was claimed by Isis with the aim of spreading insecurity in Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq by showing that the Islamic militants can evade security measures.
The bomber first tried to enter the compound of the governorate near the centre of the city and detonated his explosives when he was stopped by guards. The building has blast walls which may have reduced the damage, but two policemen and two civilians were killed, and 22 people were injured.
Well-armed guards quickly appeared at other likely targets in the city such as government buildings and hotels, with cars being barred from entering and told not to stop for more than a few seconds to leave off passengers.
The governorate, a grim looking building from Saddam Hussein’s times, is close to the ancient citadel of Erbil which is built on a hill made up of the ruins of earlier cities dating back 8,000 years. After the blast, open air markets in the area selling everything from old clothes to furniture, went on functioning despite the risk of a second bomb attack. This may be because people are inured to violence or because Kurds in Erbil have less experience of car bombs than other parts of Iraq. In a single week this month vehicle-borne bombs killed 159 and injured 336 Iraqis, the majority of them in Baghdad.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-extends-its-deadly-reach-with-suicide-bombing-in-kurdish-capital-9871390.html
