Eleven electricity plant workers were killed in an ambush as they drove to work in northern Iraq April 4. Police said gunmen stopped a vehicle carrying the workers near Hawija, about 70 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk, then sprayed it with gunfire. Seven of the workers died instantly; four others were fatally wounded. (Reuters via Zaman, Turkey, April 4)

An editorial in the Turkish daily Zaman sees positive signs in the meeting of Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan with Kurdish leader and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. They discussed the controversial future of the oil-rich north of Iraq and the presence of Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) fighters in Iraq. The meeting comes at a time when many Turkish military leaders and nationalists refuse to meet with Kurdish representatives for their alleged support of the PKK. (Madrid11.net, April 4)

See our last posts on Iraq and the struggle for Kirkuk.