Bomb Toll Heavy In Kurdish Enclave

A car bomb exploded in a busy market Monday in the Kurdish self-rule enclave of northern Iraq, reportedly killing as many as 80 people.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Zakho, a town near the Turkish border.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan reported as many as 80 people were killed and dozens were wounded. Its rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said 73 people died and 141 were wounded.

1st Lt. Christopher Leist, a U.S. spokesman at the Incirlik air base in Turkey, where allied warplanes are based to protect the Kurdish zone, said at least 54 people were killed and 70 to 80 wounded.

Leist said U.S. military medics stationed in Kurdistan aided rescue operations, while another medical team was flown from Incirlik to help treat the wounded.

The bomb that exploded at about 9 a.m. in Zakho’s main market contained an estimated 220 to 330 pounds of TNT, said Hoshyar Zebari, London-based spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

He told The Associated Press that he suspected the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was responsible but could not rule out that “this might be the work of other interested parties.”