At least 17 people were killed and 25 injured when a lorry packed with explosives was detonated in the Kurdish village of Wardek in northern Iraq. Many houses in the vicinity were destroyed. The driver of a second lorry was shot dead when he attempted to enter the village, which has been sealed off by Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish Peshmerga militiamen. Wardek lies around 30 kilometres to the east of Mosul.
 

The objective of the attack appears to be to fuel friction between Kurds and Arabs whose politicians are involved in a dispute over oil and territory. There have long been tensions between Arabs and Kurds in northern Iraq. The Kurds claim various areas outside their autonomous region, inlcuding Kirkuk which is rich in oil.

The Kurdish region has been autonomous since the First Gulf War in 1991. The Kurds played an important role in the Second Gulf War in 2003, when they joined forces with the United States-led coalition in toppling the dictatorship.

Kurdish Peshmerga (Kurdish army)
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