Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

The death toll rose to 20, with 70 others wounded, when a suicide truck bomb struck the building of a Kurdish regional ministry in Iraq's northern city of Arbil on Wednesday.(Xinhua Photo)

   BAGHDAD, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to 20, with 70 others wounded, when a suicide truck bomb struck the building of a Kurdish regional ministry in Iraq's northern city of Arbil on Wednesday, local police said.

    "Latest report said that 20 people were killed and 70 others injured, including interior ministry employees," a source from the city police said, citing report from the Kurdish regional Health Ministry.   

    Earlier, the source put the toll at 30 people killed and wounded. 

    "A suicide bomber blew up a truck loaded with some 800 km of TNT on a busy main road outside the Kurdish regional Interior Ministry in the center of the city at about 8:00 a.m. (0400 GMT),"the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua by telephone.

    The powerful blast destroyed the front part of the ministry building and damaged nearby buildings, including the regional parliament building, according to the source.

    Arbil, 350 km north of Baghdad, is the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region, which has been relatively calm despite the violence in other parts of the war-torn country.

The death toll rose to 20, with 70 others wounded, when a suicide truck bomb struck the building of a Kurdish regional ministry in Iraq's northern city of Arbil on Wednesday.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>