Monday 03 November 2003, 1:03 Makka Time, 22:03 GMT
Iraq's bloodiest day in six months continued late into the night on Sunday. In the latest incident police said an Iraqi civilian was killed when six mortars fell on residential areas, some near US army forces.
The mortars were fired at around 11:20 pm (2020 GMT) on central neighborhoods in Kirkuk, 225 kilometres (140 miles) north of Baghdad, said Lieutenant Colonel Torhan Yusef, head of police forces in Kirkuk.
Aidan Ezzedin, 54, was instantly killed when a mortar slammed on his house, close to a US position, while eight other civilians were wounded, including two in serious condition, when a second mortar hit another house near a UN office.
The four other mortars fell near a police station, two bridges and Hotel Baba Gargar which usually houses Turkish businessmen, without inflicting damage, he said.
Tensions have been running high in Iraq which has objected to US-backed Turkish plans to dispatch peacekeepers to Iraq, fearing military involvement of neighboring countries might interfere with domestic politics.
Oil-rich Kirkuk has also become an active front in the war between the US military and insurgents since the April 9 fall of president Saddam Hussein, with attacks mostly targeting US bases and oil pipelines.
The mortar attacks came at the end of one of the of the worst days for the occupying forces with at least 18 US soldiders killed in sevaral attacks.