Six Iraqis and a US soldier have been killed in a car bomb explosion outside an entrance to the compound of the US administration in Baghdad. Several people were injured, including two US soldiers who were said to be in a "very serious condition". A military officer said the suicide bomber pulled up two or three vehicles away from the checkpoint on the 14 July bridge before detonating explosives. This is the first bomb to target the coalition offices for several weeks. Several cars were queuing for checks before entering the heavily-fortified headquarters - the so called Green Zone - when the blast went off. A black column of smoke rose into the air as sirens howled at the scene. "We saw a car on fire," Mohammed Talum, who lives close to the bridge, told AFP news agency after the 0700 blast. A local bakery owner, Qays Mohamed, told Reuters he had heard a "very big explosion". "We went outside and we saw one of the cars waiting to be checked on fire," he said. Colonel John Murray said at least 10 vehicles had been affected by the blast. The 14 July suspension bridge is used only by coalition forces and employees of the US administration. The BBC’s Caroline Hawley notes that a car bomb outside another entrance in January killed at least 20 Iraqi workers waiting to get into the compound.
Looks like Fallujah’s no longer under siege, then...
| UPDATE: Qaeda sez they dun it. |
A statement purportedly by an Iraqi group headed by leading al Qaeda-linked figure Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for Thursday's suicide attack outside the U.S. headquarters in Baghdad. "At dawn on Thursday the heroic fighter Abu Mitab from the land of the Haramain (Saudi Arabia) went out in a car laden with 600 kg of TNT toward the headquarters of the occupying forces and their tails, the apostates... and the operation was a success," said a statement by Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad which the United States has said is headed by Zarqawi. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the Arabic-language statement published on Muntada al-Ansar Islamist Web site. A suicide bomber killed five Iraqis and an American soldier and wounded 23 Iraqi civilians and at least three U.S. soldiers at the so-called Green Zone which used to be Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace. "The enemy often claims that the mujahideen target innocent people but those killed today belong to the secret police and intelligence who were waiting for their masters' permission to enter the palace," the statement added. It said efforts by the United States and its allies to protect their strategic interests "have all gone with the wind. The mujahideen...are still capable of striking the enemies' strategic sites and at the suitable time and place."
[Meanwhile, witnesses say two bombs destroyed the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad. At least four people were reportedly wounded in the attack on offices of the party headed by Jalal Talabani, a member of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.] |