Suicide bomb strikes at Kurds in Mosul-Iraq police

MOSUL, Iraq, Aug 15 (Reuters) A suicide bomber today attacked the offices of a top Kurdish political party in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing at least four people and wounding 35, police said.

Police Colonel Kareem Khalaf said the explosion was at 1230hrs IST outside the office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and he warned the death toll could rise as rescuers searched the rubble.

Mosul, a religiously divided city 390 km north of Baghdad, has suffered from considerable sectarian bloodshed since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and it witnessed heavy clashes between militants and U S and Iraqi forces on August 4.

Khalaf said the bomber detonated a dump truck outside the PUK office in an eastern section of the city. Another police source said the truck may have been mistaken for a construction vehicle connected with work being done on the building.

The attack follows violence against the PUK last week, when its offices in southern Iraq were ransacked by followers of a Basra-based Shi'ite cleric. They were angered by an article in the Kurdish party's official newspaper claiming the cleric, Sheikh al-Yaqoubi, was fanning sectarian tension in Kirkuk.

Talabani subsequently issued a statement saying he regretted any hurt caused by the report and had had no prior knowledge of its publication.

REUTERS KD HT1610