Clashes kill 2, wound 10 in northern Iraq

Two people were killed and 10 others wounded in clashes Friday between Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish forces in Tuz Khurmato, a town in a disputed area of northern Iraq, police officials in Kirkuk and Baghdad said.

The clashes erupted when Iraqi soldiers attempted to search a house belonging to Goran Najam, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, officials said. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is the current leader of the PUK.

One of Najam's bodyguards threw a grenade at the soldiers and fighting broke out, officials said.

An Iraqi soldier was killed as well as one other person, officials said. It was not immediately clear if the second victim was a civilian or one of Najam's bodyguards.

The ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khurmato is part an area claimed by the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan and by the Baghdad government.