A car bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed at least 32 people today, just after US troops handed over full control of Iraq's cities to the domestic security forces six years after the invasion.
The bomb, which wounded at least 100 people, struck a busy market in a largely Kurdish part of Kirkuk, a city viewed as a potential flashpoint between the Shia Arab-led central government and Kurds. Police said the death toll could rise.
Many Iraqis fear the US pullback from towns and cities and into rural bases, the first step toward a full US withdrawal by the end of 2011, leaves them open to attack.
But the government declared today a holiday, "National Sovereignty Day", and held a parade to show off the military muscle it will use against a stubborn insurgency.
"This day, which we consider a national celebration, is an achievement made by all Iraqis," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a televised address.
"Our incomplete sovereignty and the presence of foreign troops is the most serious legacy we have inherited (from Saddam Hussein). Those who think that Iraqis are unable to defend their country are committing a fatal mistake."
Citizens and Iraqi soldiers drove around the streets of Baghdad in vehicles draped in flowers and Iraqi flags to celebrate.
US president Barack Obama lauded the US troop withdrawal from towns and cities in Iraq as an important milestone but warned of "difficult days" ahead.
Mr Obama said US forces in Iraq had met a June 30th deadline to complete their withdrawal from urban areas and hand over full control to Iraqi security forces. All US troops are due to withdraw from Iraq by 2012, nine years after invading to topple Saddam Hussein.
Seperately, the US military said four US soldiers based in Baghdad had died of combat-related injuries yesterday. It gave no further details.
By midnight, all US combat units must have left Iraq's urban centres and redeployed to rural bases, according to a bilateral security pact that requires all US troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
Reuters