IRBIL, Iraq, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Sunday suicide bombings targeting the two main Kurdish party headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil killed 100 people and injured others.
Kurdish sources in northern Iraq said two suicide attackers wearing explosives blew themselves up in the middle of a crowd gathered at the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan to celebrate the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
The sources said among those killed were top administrative leaders of the two parties, including the governor of Irbil, his deputy, the chief of police in the city, and the deputy prime minister of Kurdistan.
Eyewitnesses said the Kurdish city was very tense as military forces deployed around the area and set up check points, while Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers were positioned to guard official departments and Kurdish party buildings.
About 20 other Iraqis died in a powerful explosion at a weapons depot in the southern city of Kerbala, 75 miles south of Baghdad.
Iraqi sources in Kerbala said a group of men entered the storehouse with the intention of stealing weapons, but something went wrong and caused a powerful explosion killing all of them.
