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Car Bomb Kills 23, Injures 99 At U.S. HQ In Iraq
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The
powerful blast killed two at least two Americans
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BAGHDAD,
January 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A massive truck bomb
blew up Sunday, January 18, at the main gate to the U.S.-led occupation
headquarters in the Iraqi capital, killing at least 23 people and
wounding 99 as Iraqis lined up for work inside the compound, seen as the
symbol of Washington's power in the occupied Arab country.
At
least two Americans working for the U.S. Defense Department were among
the dead, a U.S. military spokesman said after the heaviest attack in
Baghdad in months caused devastation at the checkpoint known as
Assassin's Gate, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Sixteen
Iraqis and two U.S. Defense Department employees were killed," the
spokesman said, stressing that his toll did not count those taken to
local hospitals.
Another
three dead and 30 wounded were reported from Baghdad's Karrama hospital,
two dead at Yarmuk hospital, and a total of 37 wounded at Yarmuk,
al-Kindi and the Neurological Surgical hospitals.
The
U.S. spokesman identified the wounded taken to U.S. military hospitals
as 22 Iraqi civilians, four U.S. contractors and two U.S. soldiers.
The
combined tolls from U.S. officials and hospitals put the number of
wounded at 99, according to al-Jazeera Satellite Channel.
A
busy central Baghdad street was transformed into a battlefield inferno
as flames devoured cars and licked at the brick walls of the compound
known as the Green Zone black smoke spewed into the air.
"It
was a homicide bomb," an occupation spokesman said, while Iraqi
police chief General Ahmed Ibrahim denounced what he described as an
"act of terrorism".
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Iraqi
police chief Ahmed Ibrahim speaks to the press after the blast
(AFP)
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"This
is an act of terrorism carried out by foreign groups. This is against
Islam. They did not strike the might of the coalition because the
majority of victims are Iraqis," he added.
"If
the terrorists think that this is the way to return the Baath party to
power, they are deluded," Ibrahim said.
The
U.S. spokesman said the vehicle, which witnesses described as a pick-up
truck, exploded 100 meters (yards) from the checkpoint outside the
fortress-like headquarters, a former palace of Saddam Hussein.
"It
was a car lining up to enter the palace that exploded," a police
officer said outside the arched gateway to the symbol of US power in
Iraq.
Another
witness, Ahmed Hassan, said a pick-up truck had driven up to the back of
the line and exploded, bursting into flames.
"Soldiers
panicked. One was thrown to the ground. I saw an Iraqi coalition
(occupation) employee hit the ground. He was wounded. It was so strong.
The blast was so strong. I never heard anything like that before,"
he said.
Bradley
armored vehicles and tanks sealed off the street.
Mohmmed
Bashir, an employee with the occupation authority waiting to go inside
the compound, said he saw five bodies lying on the street.
"There
was a pick-up truck and six GMC cars," he said.
GMC
sports utility vehicles are often used by western contractors and
employees with the U.S.-led authority in the occupied Arab country.
Soldiers
and civilians lifted wounded Iraqis from the ground as smoke formed a
thick cloud.
The
heavily-fortified bastion has been targeted by numerous rocket and
mortar attacks since Saddam fell from power in April, but they have
never caused any casualties inside the citadel.
Sunday's
blast is the deadliest in the Iraqi capital since insurgents launched a
string of five car bomb attacks on October 27, killing at least 40
people.
It
is also the worst since the capture of Saddam near his hometown of
Tikrit on December 13. On New Year's Eve a bombing at a popular
restaurant killed eight people.
On
Saturday, January 17, three
U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi troopers were killed when a roadside
bomb blew apart their armored vehicle.
The
latest deaths push to 501 the number of U.S. troops who have died
through combat, accident or suicide, since the war on Iraq was launched
in March, according to an AFP count.
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