A suicide bomber rammed an explosives packed truck into Wardek Village in north Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 19 villagers and injuring 25. The blast in the village of Wardek, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, took place before dawn when the attackers hit the truck into residential area. Women and children are included among the dead. The attack seemed calculated to fan ethnic tensions between Kurds and Arabs, whose politicians are embroiled in a bitter dispute over claims to territory and oil. Police said the attack demolished many houses. Another truck bomber tried to enter in the village but police opened fire and killed him before he reached its outskirts. Wardek is 30 km (18 miles) east of the volatile northern city of Mosul, where al Qaeda and other Sunni Arab insurgent groups are making a last stand after being driven out of their former strongholds in Baghdad and western Iraq.
