ANKARA (AFP) -— Fourteen Iraqis wounded in a bomb attack on a restaurant near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk have been flown to Turkey for treatment, the Turkish foreign ministry said Saturday.

They were taken aboard a Turkish military aircraft at the request of the Iraqi government, the ministry said, adding that ""Turkey will always be at the side of the Iraqi people in difficulty.""
At least 55 people were killed and 95 injured in Thursday's suicide attack on the Kurdish restaurant on the final day of the annual Feast of Sacrifice holiday.
Local tribal leaders and representatives of Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, were meeting at the restaurant, but they escaped injury as they were in a different room.
The Turkish ministry did not give details of those being treated in Turkey. The Abdullah restaurant, which was bustling at the time of the blast, is well known for welcoming people from all local communities -- Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and Turkmen.