Roadside bombing kills 2 Iraqi soldiers in restive northern city

Blast kills 2 Iraqi soldiers in country’s north

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi police official says a roadside bomb in a restive northern city has killed two Iraqi soldiers.

Col. Sherzad Murfali says the blast on Tuesday targeted an army patrol on the outskirts of Kirkuk, which is the center of a power struggle between Iraqi Kurds and the central government in Baghdad.

Kirkuk is also the main oil hub in northern Iraq. It’s been the scene of sporadic insurgent violence and ongoing tensions between the region’s three main groups — Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen.

Kirkuk is 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad.