S
Sid9
Guest
April 6, 2007
Chlorine Truck Bomber Kills 27 in Ramadi
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:20 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with TNT and toxic
chlorine gas crashed into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi on Friday,
killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens, police in the Anbar
provincial capital said.
In the deep south of the country, the Basra police commander said the type
of roadside bomb used in an attack that killed four British soldiers on
Thursday had not been seen in the region previously. Maj. Gen. Mohammed
al-Moussawi's description of the deadly weapon indicated it was a feared
Iranian-designed explosively formed penetrator.
Two more of the bombs were discovered planted along routes heavily traveled
by U.S. and British diplomats in Basra. Weeks earlier, the American military
had claimed Iran was supplying Shiite militia fighters in Iraq with the
powerful weapons, known as EFPs. They hurl a molten, fist-sized copper slug
capable of piercing armored vehicles.
The bombing in Anbar province marked the ninth use of suicide chlorine bombs
in the sprawling, mainly desert territory that has been a stronghold of the
Sunni insurgency.
Recently, however, many Anbar tribes have switched allegiance, with large
numbers of military-age men joining the police force and Iraqi army in a bid
to expel al-Qaida in Iraq fighters. Suicide bombings are an al-Qaida
trademark.
Police Maj. Mohammed Mahmoud al Nattah, member of the Anbar Salvation
council, told state-run Iraqiya television the bomber hit a residential
complex and dozens of wounded were taken to the Ramadi hospital.
Police opened fire as the suicide car bomber sped toward a checkpoint, three
miles west of the city, according to police Col. Tariq al-Dulaimi. Nearby
buildings were heavily damaged and police were searching the rubble for more
victims.
South of Baghdad, Iraqi forces backed by American paratroopers swept into a
troubled, predominantly Shiite city before dawn, and the U.S. military said
as many as six militia fighters had been killed.
Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a U.S. military spokesman, said eight others were
wounded and five detained. There were no reports of civilian casualties in
the assault on Diwaniyah, he said.
Residents reported heavy fighting between the U.S. and Iraqi forces and
gunmen of the Mahdi Army militia in the city, 80 miles south of Baghdad.
Dr. Hameed Jaafi, the director of Diwaniyah Health Directorate, said an
American helicopter fired on a house in the Askari neighborhood, seriously
wounding 12 people as the early morning assault began.
Bleichwehl said there were no U.S. air strikes either by helicopters or
planes.
Also Thursday, the U.S. military confirmed an American helicopter carrying
nine people had been downed south of Baghdad and that four were injured.
An Iraqi army official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of
security concerns, said the helicopter crashed after coming under fire near
the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of
Baghdad. The U.S. military did not confirm that account.
It was the ninth U.S. helicopter to go down in Iraq this year. The U.S.
military has studied new evasive techniques, fearing insurgents have
acquired more sophisticated weapons or have figured out how to use their
arms in new and effective ways.
The four British soldiers -- including two women -- were killed Thursday as
the American military announced the deaths of nine more U.S. soldiers since
Tuesday.
The Basra region police commander, al-Moussawi, said two similar bombs had
been discovered Friday morning; one was discovered on the road leading to
Basra Palace, the compound that houses a British base and the British and
U.S. consulates. A second was uncovered in the western Hayaniyah district
where Thursday's attack occurred. The area is known as a stronghold of the
Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The reported deaths of the American forces and the bomb attack on the
British unit marked the start of the eighth week of the joint U.S.-Iraqi
security crackdown in Baghdad and surrounding territory.
Prime Minister Tony Blair called the Basra attack an ''act of terrorism''
and suggested it may have been the work of militiamen linked to Iran. He
stopped short of accusing Tehran, however.
''Now it is far too early to say that the particular terrorist act that
killed our forces was an act committed by terrorists that were backed by any
elements of the Iranian regime, so I make no allegation in respect of that
particular incident,'' Blair said.
He added, however, ''This is maybe the right moment to reflect on our
relationship with Iran.''
The U.S. military reported Saturday that one American soldier was killed and
a second wounded in shooting in Kirkuk province.
One U.S. soldier died and two were wounded in a roadside bombing Thursday in
restive Diyala province north of Baghdad, the military said. Four others
died Wednesday in two roadside bomb explosions in southern Baghdad and north
of the capital, while a fifth was killed by small-arms fire in the eastern
part of the city. Two other soldiers were killed by small-arms fire on
Tuesday -- one in eastern Baghdad and another on foot patrol in the southern
outskirts of the capital.
Chlorine Truck Bomber Kills 27 in Ramadi
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:20 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with TNT and toxic
chlorine gas crashed into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi on Friday,
killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens, police in the Anbar
provincial capital said.
In the deep south of the country, the Basra police commander said the type
of roadside bomb used in an attack that killed four British soldiers on
Thursday had not been seen in the region previously. Maj. Gen. Mohammed
al-Moussawi's description of the deadly weapon indicated it was a feared
Iranian-designed explosively formed penetrator.
Two more of the bombs were discovered planted along routes heavily traveled
by U.S. and British diplomats in Basra. Weeks earlier, the American military
had claimed Iran was supplying Shiite militia fighters in Iraq with the
powerful weapons, known as EFPs. They hurl a molten, fist-sized copper slug
capable of piercing armored vehicles.
The bombing in Anbar province marked the ninth use of suicide chlorine bombs
in the sprawling, mainly desert territory that has been a stronghold of the
Sunni insurgency.
Recently, however, many Anbar tribes have switched allegiance, with large
numbers of military-age men joining the police force and Iraqi army in a bid
to expel al-Qaida in Iraq fighters. Suicide bombings are an al-Qaida
trademark.
Police Maj. Mohammed Mahmoud al Nattah, member of the Anbar Salvation
council, told state-run Iraqiya television the bomber hit a residential
complex and dozens of wounded were taken to the Ramadi hospital.
Police opened fire as the suicide car bomber sped toward a checkpoint, three
miles west of the city, according to police Col. Tariq al-Dulaimi. Nearby
buildings were heavily damaged and police were searching the rubble for more
victims.
South of Baghdad, Iraqi forces backed by American paratroopers swept into a
troubled, predominantly Shiite city before dawn, and the U.S. military said
as many as six militia fighters had been killed.
Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a U.S. military spokesman, said eight others were
wounded and five detained. There were no reports of civilian casualties in
the assault on Diwaniyah, he said.
Residents reported heavy fighting between the U.S. and Iraqi forces and
gunmen of the Mahdi Army militia in the city, 80 miles south of Baghdad.
Dr. Hameed Jaafi, the director of Diwaniyah Health Directorate, said an
American helicopter fired on a house in the Askari neighborhood, seriously
wounding 12 people as the early morning assault began.
Bleichwehl said there were no U.S. air strikes either by helicopters or
planes.
Also Thursday, the U.S. military confirmed an American helicopter carrying
nine people had been downed south of Baghdad and that four were injured.
An Iraqi army official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of
security concerns, said the helicopter crashed after coming under fire near
the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of
Baghdad. The U.S. military did not confirm that account.
It was the ninth U.S. helicopter to go down in Iraq this year. The U.S.
military has studied new evasive techniques, fearing insurgents have
acquired more sophisticated weapons or have figured out how to use their
arms in new and effective ways.
The four British soldiers -- including two women -- were killed Thursday as
the American military announced the deaths of nine more U.S. soldiers since
Tuesday.
The Basra region police commander, al-Moussawi, said two similar bombs had
been discovered Friday morning; one was discovered on the road leading to
Basra Palace, the compound that houses a British base and the British and
U.S. consulates. A second was uncovered in the western Hayaniyah district
where Thursday's attack occurred. The area is known as a stronghold of the
Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The reported deaths of the American forces and the bomb attack on the
British unit marked the start of the eighth week of the joint U.S.-Iraqi
security crackdown in Baghdad and surrounding territory.
Prime Minister Tony Blair called the Basra attack an ''act of terrorism''
and suggested it may have been the work of militiamen linked to Iran. He
stopped short of accusing Tehran, however.
''Now it is far too early to say that the particular terrorist act that
killed our forces was an act committed by terrorists that were backed by any
elements of the Iranian regime, so I make no allegation in respect of that
particular incident,'' Blair said.
He added, however, ''This is maybe the right moment to reflect on our
relationship with Iran.''
The U.S. military reported Saturday that one American soldier was killed and
a second wounded in shooting in Kirkuk province.
One U.S. soldier died and two were wounded in a roadside bombing Thursday in
restive Diyala province north of Baghdad, the military said. Four others
died Wednesday in two roadside bomb explosions in southern Baghdad and north
of the capital, while a fifth was killed by small-arms fire in the eastern
part of the city. Two other soldiers were killed by small-arms fire on
Tuesday -- one in eastern Baghdad and another on foot patrol in the southern
outskirts of the capital.
