2 bombs injure 5 civilians south of Kirkuk

Kirkuk-Civilians KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Five civilians were wounded on Monday in two separates explosions in Touz Khormato district, south of Kirkuk, a police source said. “An explosive charge went off near the house of the director of the national department in Touz Khormato, Captain Qahtan Hussein, injuring a civilian,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “Another bomb exploded inside an electronic games store on the main road in Touz Khormato, injuring four civilians,” he added. Touz Khormato is located 100 km east of Tikrit city. Kirkuk, 250 km (156 miles) north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, sits on the ruins of a 5,000-year-old settlement. Because of the strategic geographical location of the city, Kirkuk was the battle ground for three empires, Assyria, Babylonia and Media which controlled the city at various times. Kirkuk is the centre of the northern Iraqi petroleum industry. It is a historically and ethnically mixed city populated by Assyrians, Kurds, Arabs and Iraqi Turkmen. The population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2008. SH (P)/SR 1