2009 Taza bombing

On 20 June 2009, a bombing struck the town of Taza, near Kirkuk in northern Iraq, an area with a dominant Shia Turkmen population. The attack occurred in a residential area near the Al-Rasoul mosque as worshippers were leaving following midday prayers. At least 73 people were killed and more than 200 were injured. Thirty homes, many built of mud-brick, were destroyed, and the explosion left a deep crater at the point of detonation; the nearby mosque was slightly damaged. The bombing was described as the worst attack in Iraq since March 2008, surpassing the twin suicide attacks that occurred in Baghdad and Muqdadiyah on 23 April 2009.

Survivors described the destruction and chaos that followed the blast. Hussain Nashaat, 35, told reporters he had been sitting in his house when a powerful blast shook the ground, leaving him covered in blood; he said his neighborhood was reduced to rubble. Some people were reported to have been buried alive in the collapsed structures. The injured were taken to Azadi Hospital in Kirkuk, with children placed in dedicated wards.

Following the bombing, the Kurdistan Regional Government, acting under orders from the Iraqi ministry of defence, launched a 15-day operation aimed at pursuing "terrorists and criminals" in the areas surrounding Kirkuk Province. Thirteen days after the attack, a high-ranking officer reported that a joint raid by Iraqi military forces and US troops in the town of Hawija had resulted in the arrest of a man identified as the mastermind behind two bombings in Kirkuk on 20 June. In December 2009, three men — Adnan Jassim Ali al-Hamdani, Walid Mahmoud Mohammed al-Hamdani, and Hawas Falah al-Juburi — were convicted and sentenced to death for helping to plan the attack.

The identity and affiliation of those responsible for carrying out the bombing were not definitively established in available reporting. Western media outlets, including Reuters, suggested the involvement of Sunni Islamist insurgents, including al Qaeda, though this was not confirmed.

The bombing drew strong condemnation from Iraqi and regional leaders. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called it an "ugly crime" intended to harm security and stability and to spread mistrust of Iraqi security forces. Kurdistan Regional Government president Massoud Barzani described it as a "coward act" aimed at disturbing fraternity and peaceful coexistence among Iraq's various communities. Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a statement of "profound sorrow," condemning the attack as "heinous" and offering to receive injured victims for medical treatment, including via ambulance helicopter. The Turkmen Front announced three days of mourning and called for an immediate investigation and for those responsible to be brought to justice.