A car bomb killed 11 people and wounded 45 others near a market in a Kurdish district of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Friday, police said. Police said the attack in Kirkuk's southern al-Hurriya district destroyed several shops and damaged nearby homes. Doctors at the local hospital said many of the wounded were in a serious condition.
Eighty-five people were killed by a suicide truck bomb on July 16 in the flashpoint oil-producing city, which is claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen.
Kurds see Kirkuk as their historical capital and want it included in their autonomous Kurdistan region. They want the referendum held by year-end, as stated in the constitution, but a Western diplomat said last week he expected it to be delayed.