Massive Bombing In Iraqi Oil Area

Plus:
*Iraq’s Oil Money
*Challenging Corruption
*A Mahdi tour of Baghdad
*Iraq Press Roundup

Representatives of Iraq’s two main Kurdish parties and the members of the Arab council of Kirkuk province’s western district were among the nearly 50 people killed in a restaurant bombing in the northern oil capital of Kirkuk.

McClatchy Newspapers’ Yaseen Taha and Adam Ashton have a great first look at this tragedy, which took place during a busy lunch time at the end of the Eid al Adha holiday.

The officials were meeting immediately prior to a planned visit by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Kirkuk is Iraq’s second most important oil area, and the scene of dispute between Iraqi Kurds and Arabs. Violence has been reduced over the past year, but an attack of this magnitude underscores how volatile the fight over control of Kirkuk is.