Fire Kills At Least 29 In Northern Iraqi City

Firemen work to extinguish the fire at the Soma Hotel.

Health officials say a fire at a hotel in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya killed 29 people, including foreigners, and injured at least 22.

The fire, at the Soma Hotel in the central area of the city, reportedly raged out of control for several hours.

A local security official, Qader Hama-Jan, said the fire was "not a terrorist act."

He said the likely cause of the fire had been an electrical fault.

Authorities said the dead included people from Cambodia, Bangladesh, Canada, Australia, Ecuador, South Africa, Britain, Lebanon, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, and one person who was believed to be a foreigner but did not have identification.

compiled from agency reports