Police sources report that the first blast wounded an Iraqi police official, the second was aimed at a police patrol, and the third was outside a building used by Kurdish security forces. The bombs detonated in quick succession.

Three police officers were killed; five police and eight Asayish officials were wounded.

Kirkuk is the epicenter of ethnic tensions among Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, near some of the largest oil reserves in Iraq.

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At least one person killed and two injured yesterday in two explosions in central Stockholm, Sweden near a busy crowd of Christmas shoppers.

One man, apparently the bomber, was found lying in the street bleeding from the abdomen. Two people received minor injuries. One of the cars bombed contained gas canisters.

An e-mail sent to TT, a Swedish newswire, and the SAPO at 16:40 on Saturday included a terror message. The email contained three audio files, one in Swedish, one in English and in Arabic.

Partial Transcript Translated Sweidsh-to-English by translate.google.com …
- Very short and wide to Sweden and Swedish people. Thanks to Lars Vilks and his paintings of the prophet Muhammad and your soldiers in Afghanistan and your silence on all this so will your children, daughters, brothers and sisters die like that our brothers and sisters and children die, “said the voice.
- Our actions will speak for themselves. As long as you do not stop your war against Islam and degrading to the Prophet and your stupid support for the pig Vilks.

The entire message is not included here.

Drottninggatan (Queen Street) is a major pedestrian street in Stockholm, Sweden.

The major part of the street is car-free and lined-up with numerous stores and shops, one of the largest being the Åhléns City department store. During summer, the street is often crowded with tourists.

On Saturday, December 11, 2010, Malin Rising of the Associated Press reported on the AOL News page that there had been “a car explosion and what appeared to be a suicide attack” that “injured two people, killed the apparent bomber, and caused panic among Christmas shoppers…Shortly afterward, a second explosion was heard higher up on the same street, and a man was found injured on the ground. He was later pronounced dead.” A police spokeswoman said it was not clear if the two incidents were indeed linked; there was an e-mail reference to the cartoon drawings of the prophet Muhammad.

View GlobalConflictMap.com — Global Conflict Map by Region in a larger map

SAPO
The Swedish Security Service (Swedish: Säkerhetspolisen, literally “the Security Police”, abbreviated Säpo), former name Rikspolisstyrelsens säkerhetsavdelning (RPS/SÄK, literally “the National Police Board’s Department of Security”), is the security service of Sweden, belonging to the Swedish National Police Board.

SOURCE: Xinhuanet.com 32 killed in string of bomb attacks in Baghdad

A car bomb exploded about 100 yards from a bus for pilgrims in the Shiite holy city of Najaf (100 miles south of Baghdad) Saturday, killing at least three people — including two two Iranian pilgrims.

Injured people from the blast were transported to al-Hakeem hospital.

The car bomb was detonated one day before Iraqis vote in key parliamentary elections. More than 6,000 candidates are competing for 325 seats in the Iraqi parliament.

Wikipedia: Najaf

SOURCE: CBS Car Bomb Kills 3 Before Iraq Election Day

No group claimed responsibility, but Taliban militants often target Pakistani security forces.

The Dallas Morning News Suicide attack on police patrol kills 17 in Pakistan