BAGHDAD, Iraq — A car bomb struck a market in a Kurdish area in the northern city of Kirkuk on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens, police said. South of Baghdad, the military said a U.S. helicopter was forced down and two soldiers were injured.
The attack in Kirkuk, a disputed oil-rich city that has seen a recent rise in ethnic tensions, occurred while the capital remained relatively calm under a driving ban aimed at preventing attacks during a major Shiite pilgrimage.
The blast tore through the stalls as the market was packed with afternoon shoppers buying vegetables and household goods in southern Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad.
Police initially said it was a suicide attack, but police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader later said it was a bomb in a parked car. At least eight people were killed and 45 were wounded, Qader said.
The blast shattered the glass facade and mirrors of Abdul Majeed Hamid’s barber shop, injuring his 14 customers.
Hamid said he was in the middle of a heated debate with a customer about a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad when the explosion struck.
“I was discussing with my customer the improving security situation in Baghdad and how this could have a positive effect on the situation in Kirkuk, but suddenly, a tremendous blast occurred and the shop was filled with smoke, screams and blood,” he said.
Tensions have increased in Kirkuk as Kurds seek to incorporate the oil-rich city into their autonomous zone in northern Iraq — a move opposed by Arabs and the Turkomen minority in the area. The area also has seen an increase in violence by militants believed to have fled the operations in the Baghdad area.
Elsewhere in northern Iraq, a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army patrol northeast of Mosul, killing four soldiers and wounding 14, army Col. Fahmi Soufi said.
A roadside bomb also exploded near a minibus in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing two passengers and wounding four others. Another civilian was killed in a drive-by shooting as he was walking elsewhere in the city, police said.
U.S. forces have claimed recent successes in calming the Diyala provincial capital after launching an operation to clear it of insurgents linked to al-Qaida in Iraq.
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