Iraqi village mourns devastating bombing

IRAQ: Dark grief descended on the Iraqi village of Ermeli on Sunday as black mourning banners, armbands, bloodstains and soot bore grim testament to a truck bomb attack that left 140 people dead.

The rural community near the northern oil hub of Kirkuk was the latest victim of a week of intense violence and political intrigue in an Iraq mired in bloody civil conflict.

Policemen guarding the entrance to the town wore black armbands and stony expressions, determined to face down the extremists behind Saturday's attack, when a truck packed with four tonnes of explosives detonated in a crowded market. "I lost my uncle and his son in the explosion," policeman Imad Abdul Hussein told AFP, adding that the village was without running water after the suicide bombing destroyed pipes and brought down electricity cables.

"We will either kill them or they will annihilate us," Hussein added, before launching into a slogan that underlined how the violence of Al-Qaeda's Sunni extremists has driven a wedge between Iraq's rival communities.

The mayor of nearby Tuz Khurmatu said Al-Qaeda had struck because Ermeli had been a peaceful village of Sunnis and Shiites from Iraq's Turkmen minority surrounded by smaller hamlets of Sunni Arabs.

"Al-Qaeda hit Ermeli because it is a safe and stable town. They target safe places to paralyse and confuse the government," said Mayor Mohammed Rashed.

Ermeli, Monday, AFP