Suicide Bomber Sole Casualty in Northern Iraq Blast

A suicide bomber killed himself tonight when he prematurely detonated a bomb in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of this northern Iraqi city. The blast occurred on a road in front of an apartment building housing displaced Kurds, shattering windows on two floors. The bomber, a suspected member of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam — a group the United States claims has links to al Qaeda — was the only casualty. The bomber’s intended target is unknown, but an official at the scene speculated that it may have been the home of a popular Kurdish politician, a former prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The politician’s home is located several blocks from the site of the explosion. Sulaimaniah, a city of 700,000, is the headquarters of the PUK, the Kurdish party that controls the eastern portions of northern Iraq. This is the second suicide bomber to die in the last few weeks and the first in Sulaimaniah. Four people, including the bomber, died last month in an explosion at a military checkpoint in Halabja. Security forces here expect more suicide attacks in the coming days as large crowds gather to mark the 15th anniversary of the nerve gas attack at Halabja. Full Story