“Our forces have arrived in the area and launched an investigation. The injured have been transferred to the hospital,” Amir Nuri, spokesperson for Kirkuk police, told Rudaw.
At least five people were injured, an unnamed police source said.
A local, only preferring to go by Izzat, said that after hearing the explosion he rushed to see what had happened.
“We saw a man lost his leg and another young man was injured on the side,” he said.
The explosion in the predominantly Turkmen downtown neighborhood of Musalla was caused by an improvised-explosive device (IED), the unnamed police source said.
"The injured [people] are in bad condition,” Hussein Ahmed Mohammed said. “People in three stores - a shop, a falafel store, and a restaurant got injured. Hopefully they will recover.”
Izzat said the explosion occurred as a shopkeeper arrived to open a Qi Card office.
No party has claimed responsibility for the incident.
On Wednesday, at least four Iraqi soldiers were killed in a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) ambush in western Kirkuk, Iraq's interior ministry spokesperson said.
At least six suspected ISIS members, including a leader, were killed in an operation carried out by Iraqi forces in Kirkuk on September 19.
ISIS seized control of large swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.
The militants have taken shelter in a security vacuum in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, stretching across several provinces including Kirkuk, Salahaddin, Nineveh, and Diyala.
Iraqi security forces have intensified their operations against ISIS cells in recent months, particularly in the disputed areas.
Hiwa Husamaddin and Hardi Mohammed contributed to this story.
Updated at 12:18 pm
