Twin car bombings in Iraqi city kill 80

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An Iraqi girl lies wounded after twin suicide car bombings exploded within 20 minutes of each other in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday

KIRKUK, (Iraq), July 16 (Agencies): Twin suicide car bombings exploded within 20 minutes of each other in the northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, killing at least 80 people and wounding around 150 in attacks targeting a Kurdish political office and ripping through an outdoor market, police saidThe attacks began around noon when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed truck near the concrete blast walls of the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
The explosion blasted a 10-yard-deep crater in the pavement and collapsed part of the roof of the one-story PUK office. Outside the offices, the burnt shells of more than two dozen vehicles were in the street.
Soon after, the second bomber attacked the Haseer market, 700 yards away, destroying stalls and cars, said Kirkuk police Brig. Sarhat Qadir.
The outdoor Haseer market - with stalls of vegetable and fruit sellers - is frequented by
Kurds in Kirkuk, a city where tensions are high between the Kurdish and Arab populations. At least 80 people were killed and around 140 wounded, said police Brig. Burhan Tayeb Taha.
The attack came just over a week after one of the Iraq conflict's deadliest suicide attacks hit a village about 50 miles south of Kirkuk, killing more than 160 people.
Iraqi officials have said Sunni insurgents are moving further north to carry out attacks, fleeing U.S. offensives in and around Baghdad, including in the city of Baqouba, a stronghold of extremists on the capital's northwestern doorstep. The month-old sweeps aim to pacify the capital and boost the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
U.S. troops launched a new offensive south of Baghdad on Monday, aimed at stopping weapons and fighters from moving into the capital, the military said in a statement.
The statement did not say where the new sweep, code-named Marne Avalanche, was taking place. But in recent days U.S. commanders have said they plan new operations to cut off an insurgent supply route southwest of the city, running from western Anbar province. An offensive has been ongoing for the past month in a region southeast of Baghdad.
Violence appears to have eased in Baghdad in recent weeks - but attacks, including deadly car bombs, remain a daily occurrence.
A string of attacks Monday morning in the capital killed at least nine people. In the deadliest, a roadside bomb exploded as an Iraqi army patrol passed in the Boub al-Sham area on the city's northeast outskirts, killing five soldiers and wounding nine others, an army officer said.
For the second day in a row, a car bomb hit the central district of Karradah on Monday, exploding near Masbah Square, killing one person, wounding three others and leaving nearby shops burned, a police official said. On Sunday, a car bomb went off about a half-mile away, killing 10 people.
Also, mortar shells hit a residential area in Abu Dhsir, a south Baghdad Shiite enclave surrounded by Sunni neighborhood. The attack killed three civilians and wounded six others, said another police official.
On Sunday, 22 bullet-riddled bodies were found dumped in various locations of Baghdad, apparently the latest victims of sectarian violence, police said. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the reports.