Fuel tanker bomb kills 42 in Iraq's Tikrit

Death toll at the suicide attack in Tikrit district of Iraq's Salahaddin province increased to 42, and the number of injured to 67. Officials said that 42 people were killed at the attack that was carried out with an oil tanker and targeted police headquarters. 18 nearby buildings were collapsed due to the attack. No one, nor any group, claimed responsibility for the attack yet and more casualties is feared. Police at the scene said compound guards may not have suspected the tanker because fuel trucks arrive every morning to deliver gas and oil to the government offices. "The tank was stopped just behind the police administration building and partially damaged it. I was injured in my face and stomach because of glass," Captain Mohammed Salih said. Intensifying violence has accompanied by political crisis in Iraq where a power-sharing government among Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish blocks has been all but paralyzed since U.S. troops left more than a year ago. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, is also facing months of protests in the Sunni heartland, which shares a border with Syria. Many Iraqi Sunnis feel their minority sect has been sidelined by Maliki's government.