IRAQ - Nov. 20 - Car Bombers Kill 6.

A suicide car bomber kills at least 4 people in an attack near the offices of a leading Kurdish party in northern Iraq, hours after two others were killed in a car bombing west of Baghdad. The attacks near the Kirkuk offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) -- whose leader is currently head of Iraq's US-appointed IGC -- and a US-backed local council, appeared to be targeted against the US-led occupation. In Kirkuk, around 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, a huge explosion threw up a cloud of black smoke, shaking buildings across town. The Nov. 20 blast flattened a wall around the green painted headquarters of the PUK, and shattered windows at a nearby primary school, wounding several children. "I am 100% sure it was a suicide bombing", says police officer Shwan Majid Karim. Hospital officials put the death toll at four plus the bomber, whose remains were brought to the hospital in a bag. They said the toll could rise as body fragments were still being found strewn across a town square. More than 30 people were wounded. On Nov. 19 night, a car bomb blast struck the offices of a US-appointed local council in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Local officials said 2 people were killed and 11 were wounded, including the council leader. Witnesses said it was also a suicide attack but that could not be confirmed by police. "A car filled with explosives came fast. The driver blew himself up inside the car", a resident living nearby said. The Ramadi strike was one of a string of attacks on targets linked to the US-led occupation in the flashpoint town. A tribal leader known for cooperating with the Americans was killed and a police chief's son was wounded in the space of a few hours, witnesses said.In Kirkuk, local PUK leader Jalal Jawhar said he believed his office was the target of the attack. PUK leader, Jalal Talabani, was in Turkey on Nov. 19 in his role as head of the IGC. "The real target was the Iraqi people, the nation and political parties", Jawhar tells Reuters. "I think this explosion was the work of remnants of the old regime or Islamic militants". The fresh violence came as US Pres. Bush prepared to face huge protests in London against the US war in Iraq and a day after he made a staunch defence of his military policy in a speech on the first day of a state visit to Britain. In the address, Bush vowed not to leave Iraq despite the rising death toll inflicted by insurgents, saying the alliance had not paid a high price in casualties and liberated millions of people "only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins". At the UN, the US and Britain are seeking backing for their agenda to hand over power to Iraqis. But Russia on Nov. 19 criticised US plans for not engaging the UN further in the transition process. Ramadi, where attacks on US forces and Iraqis seen as cooperating with them are common, is to become a test case for the handover of power to Iraqis. In January, US soldiers hand over security responsibility in the flashpoint town to the Iraqi police. But the new attacks were a reminder of how uncertain and dangerous Iraq's security situation remains more than seven months after US troops overthrew Saddam Hussein. The US appointed governor in Iraq, Paul Bremer, told an Italian newspaper in remarks published on Nov. 19 that the country was "around 90% quiet, normal and at peace", but the attacks appeared in sharp contrast with that view. RELENTLESS VIOLENCE In Kerbala, a Shi'ite city south of Baghdad, a bomb exploded in a primary school on Nov. 19 afternoon, killing at least 2 schoolboys and wounding several others, witnesses and a local doctor said. Pools of blood smeared the classroom floor. In the southern city of Basra, a municipal council official from the Assyrian Democratic Movement was found dead on Nov. 19, a day after he was abducted, colleagues said. Determined to quell what appears to be a deepening anti-American insurgency throughout the country, US forces pushed ahead with new offensives overnight, dropping bombs and firing missiles at suspected guerrilla hideouts. The aggressive offensives -- dubbed Iron Hammer, Ivy Cyclone and Ivy Cyclone Two -- were launched nearly two weeks ago, after the downing of a Black Hawk helicopter near Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, to try to hit insurgents with full force.As well as those operations, US forces have stepped up their hunt for one of Saddam's top lieutenants, offering a reward of $10 million on Nov. 19 for information leading to capture or death of Izzat Ibrahim. Ibrahim, the most wanted man in Iraq after Saddam and number 6 on the list of the 55-most-wanted in the country, is accused of being directly behind some attacks on US troops.