The first improvised explosive device (IED) detonated on board a bus in Companies’ Street, killing one woman and injuring four other passengers.
The second IED blast struck another bus near the city center, injuring twelve.
Both Toyota Coaster buses were struck by IEDs, security officials confirmed in a Facebook statement – the first in the Rasa Jisir area and the second closer to Celebration Square.
Dr. Karim Wali, director of Kirkuk’s Health Department, confirmed to Rudaw that 18 people had been caught in the blasts, but did not confirm the fatality. Those injured had mostly suffered burns, he said. One person is in a critical condition.
Nobody has claimed responsibly for the attack.
Kirkuk Provincial Council condemned the “despicable crime” in a statement released on Thursday night and called on security forces to do more. It appeared to blame the twin attacks on remnants of the Islamic State group (ISIS).
“Kirkuk Provincial Council, while strongly condemning this cowardly terrorist attack... renews its insistence on the necessity to uproot the roots of terror and strike with an iron fist against ISIS remnants, not underestimate them, and for the security forces to take the highest degree of alertness and carefulness,” the statement read.
ISIS was declared defeated in Iraq in December 2017. However, remnants of the group have returned to earlier insurgency tactics of bombings, ambushes, kidnappings, extortion, and execution.
Thursday’s blasts follow a string of deadly explosions in Kirkuk less than a month ago, in which three people died and at least 16 were injured.
Kirkuk’s security is managed by Iraqi federal forces, which took control of the city from the Peshmerga in a military offensive on October 16, 2017.
The security situation in the city and wider province has been gradually deteriorating since.
Kirkuk is a disputed territory between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Government of Iraq. The dispute was supposed to be resolved through Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, but its status has still not been settled.
