5 killed as twin attacks hit Iraq’s Kirkuk

By Hussein al-Amir

BAGHDAD

At least five people were killed when twin suicide bombings struck the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday, according to medical and security sources.

A suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shia shrine on Atlas street in central Kirkuk, Iraqi police lieutenant Zaher al-Jumaili told Anadolu Agency.

Another bomber detonated his explosive vest near the scene of the first explosion, he said.

According to a medical source, five people were killed and 14 others injured in the attacks.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks.

In mid-October, Iraqi forces wrested control of oil-rich Kirkuk from Kurdish Peshmerga forces, one month after the Kurdish Regional Government held a controversial referendum on the regional Kurdish independence.