A suicide attacker detonated a massive car bomb Wednesday at a checkpoint near the area housing the U.S. Embassy and offices of the interim government in Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 40, including a U.S. soldier, authorities said. Four members of the Iraqi national guard and seven civilians were reported killed.
The car that blew up was packed with 1,000 pounds of explosives. The blast happened at the checkpoint leading to the parking lot, said Iraqi police Col. Majid Abdel Hamid.
Black and gray smoke poured into the air over the lot. Police cars and ambulances raced to the scene, and U.S. helicopters hovered overhead.
"We were gathering outside the convention center seeking jobs," said one witness, Alla Hassan. "We were thrown on the ground. Then I saw many dead people on the ground."
The area, formerly known as the "Green Zone," was once the headquarters of the U.S. occupation authorities. Now named the International Zone, it houses the U.S. and British Embassies, as well as the offices of the interim Iraqi government.
An American solider was slightly wounded, said Col. Mike Murray of the 1st Cavalry Division.
The blast occurred on a holiday marking the 46th anniversary of the bloody nationalist coup that killed the last king, Faisal II.
Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi later visited the site and said the bombing came in retaliation for arrests of "terrorism suspects." The government said Tuesday it had arrested more than 500 suspects in a police sweep in Baghdad.
"This is a new crime that shows that the forces of evil are trying to harm the Iraqi people," Allawi said, according to The AP.
"The civilians who met martyrdom today were job-seekers. The government will do its best to arrest those criminals." "We will crush those terrorist[s] soon," Allawi added.
Later in the day, attackers assassinated the governor of the Iraqi city of Mosul as he was driving in a convoy of vehicles toward Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said, according to Reuters.
The assailants threw a grenade at the governor's vehicle and fired automatic weapons, the source added.
Authorities in Baghdad also said gunmen killed an auditor for the Industry Ministry in a drive-by shooting as he was leaving his office in Baghdad. The attack on Sabir Karim occurred Tuesday, said Seif Abdel Rahman, a ministry official. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
