IRAQ Suicide bomber kills at least 10 by police station

The explosion was the third recent one to target Kurds.
KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) -- A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed vehicle today outside an Iraqi police station in a Kurdish neighborhood of this ethnically divided northern city, killing at least 10 people and wounding 45 others, police and hospital officials said.
The attack was the latest in a string of vehicle and suicide bombings against Iraqi security forces and others seen as cooperating with the U.S.-led occupation that have killed more than 300 people this year, most of them Iraqis.
It was also the third blast since late January to target Kurds, who are pressing to maintain their self-rule region in northern Iraq, as well as the independent militias they say they need to ensure their autonomy from Baghdad.
The blast occurred as U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad for a brief visit. Rumsfeld met today with four young members of Iraq's new security forces and told them he was impressed with the progress they were making.
"We're looking forward to seeing Iraqis take over the responsibility for the security of your country," he told them.
The United States intends to transfer power to the Iraqis on June 30 -- but its plans have hit controversies on several fronts. Leaders of the country's Shiite Muslim majority demand quick elections to establish a government, and an influential cleric today warned of civil war between Iraq's ethnic groups if a vote is delayed.
In the Kirkuk attack, the bomber detonated his vehicle just as police were changing shifts, and a group of 20 policemen were gathered outside the Rahimawa station, said the station's chief, Col. Adel Ibrahim.
As policemen arriving for duty drove up in a convoy, "a civilian car followed them and ran into the last car in the convoy and exploded," Col. Thamer Abdul-Masih, head of the Facilities Protection police, said. "Whoever did this had been watching and knew the procedure of the policemen's shifts."
The explosion heavily damaged nearby buildings and destroyed cars. Blood was splattered over the station's entrance, and parts of the bomb-laden car, including the engine lay scattered in front. Abdul-Masih's office was littered with glass and torn curtains.
A U.S. military rapid-reaction team came to the scene.
At least 10 people were killed, all of them believed to be policemen, said hospital officials. Among the dead was the station's deputy chief, Abdul-Masih said. At least 45 people were wounded, including a schoolboy and four girls from a nearby high school.
Ethnic tensions grow
Kirkuk has also seen rising ethnic tensions as Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen vie for control of the city, which is in one of the world's richest oil-producing regions, 180 miles north of Baghdad.
The tensions have flared in violence, making it one of the toughest issues as the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council tries to work out a federal system to decentralize government in the future Iraq. The council is drawing up an interim constitution that must deal with the issue, and a final version is due this week.
U.S. administrators oppose maintenance of any local militias, including those of the Kurds, who helped U.S. troops during the invasion that led to Saddam Hussein's fall in April.
The United States had intended to transfer power June 30 to a government chosen ultimately by regional council until elections in 2005, but the plans were thrown into disarray when Shiite clergy demanded the government by chosen by elections.