NEWS ALERT: SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 25 IN KIRKUK, IRAQ

There will most likely be little coverage in the mainstream press in the U.S. about this suicide bombing, but it underscores how the war in IRAQ is far from over.

Iraqi police say suicide bomber attacks restaurant outside Kirkuk, kills at least 25

Associated Press
December 11, 2008

http://www.startribune.com/world/35865844.html?elr=KArks:DCiUBcy7hUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

BAGHDAD - Police say a suicide bomber has struck inside a restaurant near Kirkuk, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more.

Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir, commander of the Kirkuk police, also says about 45 people are wounded.

The explosion occurred Thursday at a restaurant about 2 miles north of Kirkuk, the center of Iraq's northern oil fields.

The reason for the attack was unclear but the city has been the scene of long-standing ethnic tension.

The Kurds want to annex Kirkuk and surrounding Tamim province into their self-ruled region in northern Iraq. Most Turkomen and Arabs want the province to remain under central government control, fearing the Kurds would discriminate against them.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. troops launched raids in at least four Iraqi cities, detaining six people believed associated with al-Qaida in Iraq, the U.S. military said Thursday.

A U.S. statement says two men were detained Wednesday in a pair of raids near Tarmiyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

Two others were captured Thursday in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province west of Baghdad, the statement said. The two others were arrested Thursday — one in Mosul and the other in Baghdad, the U.S. said.

U.S. troops have broad authority under a U.N. mandate to apprehend people deemed a security threat and hold them indefinitely without charge.

However, the mandate expires at the end of this month and will be replaced by a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that requires the U.S. to obtain warrants to search houses or detain people except in active combat.

The new regulations will be part of a series of major changes in the five-year U.S.-led mission.
Britain announced Wednesday it will withdraw all but a handful of its 4,000 soldiers from Iraq next year. The U.S. is expected to shift a brigade to Basra in southern Iraq, where most of the British forces are located, to ensure the security of supply lines into the country from Kuwait.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has called for withdrawing all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by early 2010, shifting responsibility to the Iraqis for the defense of the country against Sunni and Shiite extremists.