Suicide attack near Kirkuk

The explosives-laden truck, driven by a suicide bomber, left a huge crater. Residents of the mostly Shiite Turkmen town had just finished prayers at a mosque when the attacker struck. The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks on northern Iraq’s Turkmen minority since 2003.  (Emad Matti / Associated Press)

Residents search through the wreckage after the truck bombing in Taza Khurmatu. The town sits in an oil-rich area home to a volatile mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens. Kurds wish to annex the Kirkuk region to Kurdistan, their semi-autonomous zone in northern Iraq, a move opposed by the other groups.  (Marwan Ibrahim / AFP/Getty Images)

People search for survivors in the rubble in Taza Khurmatu. One resident who was being treated at a hospital in Kirkuk said the blast showed that U.S. forces must not withdraw from Iraqi cities.  (Emad Matti / Associated Press)

A woman mourns amid the wreckage after the truck bomb in Taza Khurmatu. Health officials feared the casualties figures would rise further.  (Marwan Ibrahim / AFP/Getty Images)

A man is rushed to hospital after the suicide bombing in Taza Khurmatu. Turkmen politician Ali Mehdi, on Kirkuk’s provincial council and a leader of the Turkmen Front party, called on Baghdad to give his community its own security force to protect its villages, as opposed to relying on mixed Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen forces.  (Marwan Ibrahim / AFP/Getty Images)

A medic rushes a victim of the Taza Khurmatu bombing to a hospital in nearby Sulaymaniya. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki had touted the scheduled June 30 departure of U.S. troops from cities, but had said it wouldn’t be surprising if militants stepped up attacks to test Iraqi forces.  (Yahya Ahmed / Associated Press)

Men dig graves for some of the 70 people killed in the truck bombing in Taza Khurmatu. Islamic tradition calls for swift burial.  (Marwan Ibrahim / AFP/Getty Images)