ERBIL, Feb. 2 — Thousands of mourners filled the streets here today with grief for the scores of people killed in two suicide bombings the day before, as Kurdish and other Iraqi officials said the attacks would complicate the political struggles over the future of Iraq and the Kurdish region in its north.
The bombings killed several top Kurdish officials, and the blasts will resonate during the debates on the two most contentious political issues in Iraq — the drive for Kurdish autonomy, and the process for handing over sovereignty to a new Iraqi government by June 30.
The attacks came just as Kurdish leaders were embroiled in negotiations over how much independence the Kurdish region would be allowed and how the two leading Kurdish parties, whose offices were bombed during holiday receptions, would share power. The deaths of important officials could change the balance of political viewpoints in each party.
The attacks also scarred a part of the country that had been relatively unscathed by violence during the American occupation, underscoring the argument that Iraq may be too unstable to hold direct elections, officials and experts said.
Today, in this northern city, two lines of men, hundreds of grim faces long, stood in front of the grand mosque holding pictures of their slain leaders. Mourners filed between them, saluting the photographs. Then they stepped into the mosque to pray. Thousands of people waited in the streets behind them.
If Kurdistan were a state, today would have been a state funeral.
American officials said that at least 67 people had been killed and 247 wounded in the nearly simultaneous bombings at the two political parties' offices, where well-wishers had come together for a Muslim holiday. The dead included the deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the mayor of Erbil, a military commander and a police chief.
The loss of some of those people could bring a shift in attitudes, experts said.
Within each party, there is tension between factions that advocate a more radical break from Iraq and ones that take a more moderate stance.
The highest-ranking Kurdish official killed, Sami Abdul Rahman, deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, was a "reasonable pragmatist" who was willing to back off from demands for the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and any immediate push for independence, said Joost R. Hiltermann, a Middle East expert with the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organization.
"He was well ahead of most of the Kurdish people who were talking about independence and about Kirkuk," Mr. Hiltermann said.
Another high-ranking Kurd who was killed was Akrem Mantik, mayor of Erbil, known for his especially good rapport with Americans. His absence could mean less leverage for the Coalition Provisional Authority.
If the voices within the parties change, so could the shape of the new Iraq as the transfer of sovereignty approaches. American officials and Iraqi Governing Council members have been engaged in delicate negotiations with Kurdish leaders over the definition of federalism, which is expected to be included in an interim constitution due on Feb. 28.
The Kurdish region has existed as a virtually independent state since 1991, when the American and British governments declared the area no-flight zone. The area is split into two zones, one governed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the other by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Each of the two main parties controls half the region, and they insist on keeping — under a projected united administration — the broad governing powers they have enjoyed in the last 12 years.
Hamid Majid Mousa, head of the Iraqi Communist Party and a Governing Council member, said federalism would be the most contentious issue of the interim constitution. "It's not just about de-centralization," Mr. Mousa said. "It's about finding a solution to the Kurdish issue."
The attacks also showed how fragile the security situation is in Iraq at a time when some political groups are clamoring for swift elections while others say they should be postponed until the country is more secure. Kurdistan was thought to be one of the safest places in the country.
"The situation has deteriorated if even the Kurdish places aren't safe anymore," said Mr. Hiltermann, who recently traveled Iraq trying to gauge the feasibility of direct elections.
A powerful Shiite cleric has demanded elections by May 31 but many Sunni and Kurdish groups oppose holding them that soon. Shias comprise more than 60 percent of the population, while Sunnis, Kurds and smaller ethnic minorities make up the balance.
Feisal al-Istrabadi, a legal adviser to Adnan Pachachi, who led the Governing Council in January, said it was too dangerous now for elections.
"Can you imagine the types of massacres you would have?" Mr. Istrabadi asked.
The Bush administration has avoided publicly acknowledging that security is perhaps the biggest obstacle to holding swift elections. In private, though, American military officials, United Nations officials and election experts concede security is a big concern.
It is not clear who was behind Sunday's attacks, each of which involved a man walking into a crowded reception hall and detonating explosives strapped to his body. But many security officials blame Ansar al-Islam, a group linked to Al Qaeda that was driven out of eastern Kurdistan at the start of last year's war in Iraq.
According to an Iraqi security agent, as many as 200 members of Ansar al-Islam have returned to Erbil, where they receive support from guerrilla cells in other parts of the country.
"After the war, Ansar members came back and asked for forgiveness," said the security agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They were sleeping for a time. Now they are awake."
A coalition official said the group, which follows an extreme Muslim ideology similar to the Taliban in Afghanistan, still operates in northern Iraq, though it has been weakened.
Most people, when asked about the bombing, instinctively blamed "the Islamists."
The bombings came on the first day of Id al-Adha, a Muslim holiday, and despite warnings from American authorities about an increased risk of attacks, Kurdish officials declined to search guests at their headquarters because they thought it was rude.
"We will have to change that," said Mahmoud Mohammed, culture minister for the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The price was heavy.
This morning, one after another, pickup trucks loaded with wooden coffins rumbled into Erbil's main cemetery. Outside the grand mosque, men tied black banners to the gates, remembering the dead.
"All of Erbil is a funeral today," said Shahab Achmad, who lost a cousin. "But we have seen worse."
Thousands of Kurds were executed during Saddam Hussein's reign as Iraq's dictator, some villages were gassed and many Kurdish political offices have been bombed.
At the Erbil Emergency Hospital, shirtless men lay on narrow mattresses. Many of them had bad burns and shiny burn salve on their faces.
"Their attitude is amazing," said Mario Ninno, an Italian nurse and the medical coordinator for the hospital. "Their leaders come in here to say they are sorry and the people say, `No, we are your troops; as long as you are alive, don't feel sorry.' "
One badly burned man tapped an American journalist on the arm and whispered: "Tell Mr. Bush thank you. We are liberated."
At the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the blast ripped down a concrete wall, blew apart furniture and shattered the windshields of cars parked 100 feet away.
Today, investigators were still picking through the wreckage, putting money, jewelry and pens in one bag and pieces of flesh in others.
"Look at this," said Ako Koyee, an office worker for the party, as he bent down in the rubble. "Children's teeth."
Asked if it made him upset, he said no.
"It is not the first time we have seen this," he said. "But each time it is important to collect our friends."
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