Car bomb hits Kurd party offices

A car bomb exploded today in central Baghdad outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which is located just outside the green zone headquarters of the US-run coalition.

A car bomb exploded today in central Baghdad outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which is located just outside the green zone headquarters of the US-run coalition.

The Arab language television stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya quoted police sources as saying about 10 people were killed.

Ambulances raced to the scene and US troops kept people back. Television footage showed debris and a charred wall of a building.

The PUK is seen as being close to the Americans. Under the leadership of Jalal Talabani, the party represented one of the main anti-Saddam forces on Iraqi soil after the Gulf War. Fighters from the party backed American forces in last year's invasion.

Talabani holds a seat on the Governing Council and held the council's rotating presidency in November.

The bomb was one of several blasts heard in the capital just after reports circulated that Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, current head of the Iraqi Governing Council, had been selected as president of the interim government set to take power June 30.

An earlier blast, followed by gunfire, sent a mushroom cloud 100 feet billowing into the dusty air hanging over the city. Coalition aircraft could be heard flying over Baghdad.