Below is an extract from an article written by Caroline Alexander and published by Bloomberg;

A series of bombings and mortar attacks in Iraq's oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk killed about 20 people and left 40 wounded.

Explosions were heard today across the city, which lies 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of Baghdad, President Jalal Talabani's political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said on its Arabic-language Web site. One bomb went off near a mosque in central Kirkuk while another detonated near the Ras Domeez market in the south of the city, state television said.

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At least eight bombs went off within half an hour in Kirkuk, and police officers were among the dead, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Rising Tensions

Tensions have been rising in Kirkuk ahead of deadlines for a census and referendum on whether its inhabitants want the province to become part of Kurdistan -- along with the three autonomous provinces Arbil, Dohuk and Suleimaniya, the BBC said. Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen all claim Kirkuk as their own.