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Security guards for both parties said they did not search people entering for the ceremony because of the tradition of receiving guests during the Eid festivities. The attack was a surprise blow to the political leadership of the Kurdish minority, the most pro-American group in Iraq. The dead included Irbil Governor Akram Mintik, Deputy Prime Minister Sami Abdul Rahman, Minister of Council of Ministers Affairs Shawkat Sheik Yazdin, Agriculture Minister Saad Abdullah and two deputy leaders of the PUK. Officials at the KDP said party leaders were greeting people when the attacker approached them and detonated the explosives strapped around his body. |