KIRKUK / Aswat a-Iraq: At least two people were killed and four were wounded in two car bombs explosions in southern and northern Kirkuk, a security source said on Tuesday.

 

 

"A car crammed with explosives went off this morning in al-Hourriya neighborhood, southern Kirkuk, near a Kurdistan Democratic Party's office, killing two and injuring four," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

 

 

"Another car bomb went off shortly after the first explosion in the Kurdish dominant region, northern Kirkuk, causing material damage," he added.

 

 

Tensions between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq have been running high after the establishment of a new military command covering disputed territory, and over various other long-running disputes.

 

 

The establishment of the command, based in Kirkuk city and covering all of the province of the same name as well as neighboring Salah al-Din and Diala, has drawn an angry response from Kurdish leaders who want to incorporate much of the area into their autonomous region.

 

 

The dispute over the command strikes at the heart of an unresolved row between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in Arbil over territory, oil and the interpretation of Iraq's federal constitution.

 

 

SH (TS)/SR