Ambulance bomb 'was huge'

News24 via AP ^ | November 11, 2003

[Kaslin]

Baghdad - Iraqi police have discovered an ambulance packed with 450kg of explosives and United States officials on Tuesday praised the find as an indication of the potential capabilities of the newly created force.

On Monday evening, officers noticed the ambulance driving through a crowded district in the capital, became suspicious and called for the driver to stop, said Major Hakim Razak Kadim, a district commander of the Iraqi police.

The ambulance raced away, but crashed into another vehicle and its occupants fled on foot, Kadim said.

The vehicle's occupants fled before they could be arrested, Kadim said, adding that officers were still looking for them and that it was not clear if they were linked to any particular resistance group.

US forces have trained about 40 000 Iraqi policemen and are keen to hand over some of their duties to the new force.

Police rushed to the vehicle and found the back packed with explosives, including four 155mm artillery shells.

An electrical cord ran from the front of the car to the back where the explosives were located, said Colonel Kurt Fuller of the 82nd Airborne division.

At a United States military base in Baghdad, reporters were shown the white vehicle on Tuesday.

'Would have destroyed a building'

Outside the ambulance were the four 30kg howitzer shells. The fuse at the top of one had been unscrewed and plastic explosives were crammed inside, which soldiers said would have detonated the explosives.

Next to the shells were crates of plastic explosives and hard, yellow cylinders which were packed with explosives extracted from mortar and artillery shells.

Fuller said the makeshift bomb would have done "a tremendous amount of damage. It would completely destroy a building. It's a huge bomb".

Brigadier-General. Mark Hertling of the 1st Armoured division said the incident showed the importance of the local knowledge of Iraqi policemen.

"I'm not sure my paratroopers would have realised something was wrong with the ambulance," Hertling said.

"It's another indication of how the Iraqi police are seeing Baghdad."

"This is a great victory, a great day for you," he said to Kadim.

[Kaslin]

I did a search and have not found this posted yet

[r9etb]

Ambulances.... Another of Hamas's favorite tactics.

F*cking animals....

[livius]

Wow! Good work, everybody. IIRC, it was an "ambulance bomb" that did all that damage a couple of weeks ago. In fact, an ambulance with the Red Crescent logo on the side.

Glad the Iraqis were so observant.

[Rad_J]

Iraqi police have discovered an ambulance packed with 450kg of explosives and United States officials...

Wow, were those officials democrats or republicans?

[lasereye]

Get some of these guys in Tikrit to help find Saddam.

[blackie]

Good find ~ Bump!

[1rudeboy]

450kg is almost 1000lb. Whoa.

[Alter Kaker]

For reference, this is 1/4 size of bomb that destroyed your building in City of Oklahoma.

[blackie]

It would make a big boom! :)

[dead]

Nice job by the Iraqi cops. Shame they didn't shoot the fleeing bastards in the back though.

[Alter Kaker]

For reference, this is 1/4 size of bomb that destroyed your building in City of Oklahoma.

I renounce that. In fact ambulance bomb looks like had larger yield explosives than I thought, so increase proportion.

[ArGee]

Wow, were those officials democrats or republicans?

Worse, and much more horriffic than unleashing politicians on the hapless Iraqis.

They were bureaucrats.

The horror....the horror...

Iraqi civilization might have become impossible in one terrorist act.

Shalom.

[Fee]

Take the captured driver and accomplice and find out who they are. If they are Iraqis, arrest their families, hang them upside down in front of them and proceed to beat the living crap out of one of them to demonstrate that you have the will to kill them even if the captured prisoners refuses to talk. After you beat the first to death, then start asking questions and threaten to beat the next family member. The information you get will lead to more arrests and more special treatment. That is how this war will be won. Shiite and Kurdish troops and ruthless methods. Welcome to counter insurgency Freepers.

[Gritty]

ambulance bomb looks like had larger yield explosives

Right. Supposedy the Oklahoma City bomb was a mixture of fertilizer (Ammonium nitate) and fuel oil. The explosives here were military explosives.

This would have made one big BANG!

[mishka]

Y'know...he's got a point there.
It is really frustrating playing by all these "rules", while they use ambulances as bombs, kill innocent civilians, and generally do ANYTHING they want on their side of the war. It's crazy how they say they're so religious, and they don't care how people die, if they're innocent babies...they'll bomb anything, and I'm sure they have no worries about spreading chemical, disease, and nuclear disaster the second they get their hands on it.
I'm sure we wont see our guys string up people in the town square (but thanks for that visual - it releases a little of my frustration!), but certainly we are going to have to thicken our skin a little (well, maybe not us, but many others in this country) and do more of what it takes to get information. It's all cool to take the "high ground", but if they got information they need to end this using some torture, intimidation, and do to them what they do to others (an appendage to the golden rule?) then I wouldn't lose any sleep over it - and if they did it in secret, well, neither would anybody else.

[sit-rep]

I think the 450kg is as powerfull or more than the OKC bomb. The detonation rate of anfo is inferior to that of munitions explosive. I do not know for sure, this is why I flag'd the others...

[Alter Kaker]

I think the 450kg is as powerfull or more than the OKC bomb

I look over journals and estimates here which put your "OKC" bomb at equivalent of 1800 kg high explosive.

[Kaslin]

That is true

[scab4faa]

Ok showing my stupidity here what does IIRC stand for?

[Kaslin]

No surprise there. Terrosists are nothing but cowards