Bomb attack in Khurmatu kills 2, wounding 6 others

KHURMATU—At least two people were killed and six others injured in the Kurdish town of Khurmatu south of Kirkuk in a car bomb attack near a public bus and taxi station around noon on Saturday, the security forces said.

Captain Faruq Ahmad of the Khurmatu security department said the blast took place somewhere between the Baghdad station and the defense compound of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Shalal Abdul, the mayor of Khurmatu said that one of the two victims was a street cleaner from the town’s municipality.

Today’s explosion comes a day after Islamic State (ISIS) militants launched a predawn assault on the Iraqi federal police south of Khurmatu in which they killed 24 members of the police.

The attack was repelled after Kurdish Peshmerga forces stationed in the area intervened, to the loss of three Peshmerga.

Khurmatu, 100km south of Kirkuk, was a center of contention between Kurdish and Shiite militia earlier this year while ISIS militants have occasionally targeted its public places.