Attack Kills 48 in Iraq at Meeting to Ease Tensions.

A suicide bomber attacked a packed restaurant on Thursday where Sunni Arabs and Kurds were meeting to ease friction in the tense northern city of Kirkuk. At least 48 people were killed in the bombing, apparently aimed at provoking extremists along widening ethnic fault lines just as American plans to withdraw militarily from Iraq became official. Nearly 100 were wounded in the bombing, which was the deadliest in Iraq in six months. It occurred north of Kirkuk in a huge restaurant filled with as many as 3,000 people celebrating the end of the holiday Id al-Adha. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]