The Hindu : Terrorist attack, says U.S.

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Friday, Aug 08, 2003

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Terrorist attack, says U.S.

U.S. soldiers stand guard amid the debris at the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad after a car bomb blast that killed 11 persons on Thursday. - AFP

BAGHDAD AUG. 7. A massive car bomb exploded outside the Jordanian embassy here on Thursday, hurling cars onto nearby rooftops. Morgue officials said at least 11 persons, including two children and one woman were killed and more than 50 were wounded.

Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq, said there were eight confirmed deaths and labelled the attack a `terrorist' bombing. An Iraqi police official, Hakmat Ibrahim Obidi, who was injured, said at least for policemen were among the dead.

The same day, a fierce gunbattle broke out in central Baghdad, with soldiers firing into a two-storey building after their Humvee came under rocket-propelled grenade or roadside bomb attack on the busy shopping street.

Witnesses said two U.S. soldiers were injured in the vehicle, which was totally destroyed by the explosion and fire. At least at 20 Humvees and eight Bradley fighting vehicles joined the counter-attack. There was heavy machine gun and automatic rifle fire. Two helicopters hovered above.

One soldier was seen being evacuated from the zone. The U.S. forces stormed the building and emerged about five minutes later carrying their comrade. It was not immediately known if the soldier had been killed or just wounded, nor was it clear if the soldier was one of the two wounded in the attack on the Humvee. Before taking the building, the military allowed about 20 civilians inside to come out.

After the soldiers attacked, the building began burning and was gutted.

The U.S. Central Command announced two soldiers were killed the night before in the Al Rashid section of Baghdad. Their translator was wounded. The military said the soldiers died in a firefight but gave no other details.

The deaths ended a four-day period in which no U.S. forces had been killed. The deaths late on Wednesday brought to 55 the number of U.S. troops killed in combat since May 1. The U.S. Commander told a news conference the attack on the Jordanian embassy was "the worst on a soft target" since Baghdad fell to American forces on April 9.

Elsewhere, U.S. forces captured four suspected leaders of the anti-U.S. resistance in pre-dawn raids on Thursday, the military said, a day after the Americans netted 18 suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists and found a huge stockpile of weapons.

Shortly after the blast in Baghdad, young Iraqi men stormed the embassy gate and destroyed pictures of the Jordanian King Abdullah and his late father, King Hussein. — AP

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