Death Toll in Irbil Twin Bombing Attacks may Rise to over 100

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Two unidentified bombers blew themselves up at the offices of two rival Kurdish parties in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil Sunday. Kurdish officials said casualties were still being counted, but one minister said the death toll could rise above 100. Earlier, reports said an unidentified person with explosives strapped to his body came to the meeting hall of the Kurdistan Democratic Party office and blew himself up, according to party official Mohammed Munif. Among those killed were the deputy governor of Irbil province and the city's police commander, according to witnesses. Munif added hundreds of people had gathered at the hall to observe the start of the four-day Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday. According to Mohammed Ihsan, the human rights minister for the Kurdish regional government, among the dead were also the governor of the region, ministers in the local administration and several top officials, The AP reported. "These figures are estimates but I believe about 60 people were killed at the PUK and about 80 at the KDP. There are a tremendous number of injured," he added. **At least 20 Iraqis Killed near Karbala as US Soldier Dies of Wounds *** At least 20 Iraqis were killed in Iraq when a munitions depot exploded, the Polish spokesman for the multi-national force in Iraq disclosed. "About 20 people got into a fortified building shortly after midnight (early Sunday) and caused an explosion in the huge munitions depot in the desert, 180 kilometers southwest of Karbala," Colonel Robert Strzelecki was quoted as saying Sunday by the Polish news agency PAP. Meanwhile, a US soldier died on Saturday from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb attack west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad last week, the American military said on Sunday. A military statement said the US soldier, who was attached to Task Force "All American", was injured last Tuesday in a bomb attack. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Iraqis raise their AK-47 rifles during the funeral Sunday Feb. 1, 2004 in Baghdad for four Palestinians and an Iraqi who were killed in mortar attacks overnight. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

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