A suicide truck bomb went off Wednesday outside the Interior Ministry in the Kurdish city of Irbil, killing at least 12 people and injuring 53, officials said. Kurdish television showed footage of a building that had been almost completely destroyed. The Interior Ministry, the apparent target of the blast, is next to the parliament for the Kurdish Autonomous region of northern Iraq.
Hamza Ahmed, a spokesman for the Irbil governor's office, said the attack targeted the Interior Ministry. According to the AP, he said that the casualties included police and civilians.
Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday on an unannounced visit. John Roberts, the U.S. embassy information officer in Baghdad, said Cheney would meet with senior Iraqi officials.
He got a firsthand briefing on conditions from Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and the new U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker.
Cheney is looking to encourage reconciliation among rival Iraqi factions, emphasizing that the current U.S. military buildup alone is not end to the conflict, the AP reported.
Cheney made Iraq the first stop of a weeklong trip to the Middle East aimed at redoubling efforts to end infighting among Iraq's ethnic factions.
