Major Explosion in Baghdad - 20 dead(Breaking)

cnn ^ | feb 11th 2004 | cnn

[Eurotwit]

Huge Car bomb exploded outside the new Iraqi recruiting center.

[Eastbound]

Ping and bump. Looks like AQ has turned a deaf ear to the Sermon at Mecca.

[saquin]

There are so many munitions all around Iraq. It's probably not too difficult for the terrorists to pack them into a car on some farm and then drive into Baghdad. There's no way to check every car.

[yonif]

These bombs are intended to frighten Iraqis and prevent them from collaborating with Americans.

I think its part of that and also hurting the US image in the world, by making it seem the US has no control and is failing. But all the terrorists want to hurt Americans, whether at times targetting soldiers, or civilians who Americans are supposed to be helping.

[serurier]

We must brave fight to these Islam terrorist , we must fight for freedom , fight has begin , In WWII freedom win ! now freedom will win too , but it's need we support , need more people support , Iraq war is right ! Iraq war will win !

[serurier]

But why airforce can't use A-10 , B-52 Attack these munitions ?

[Husker24]

I understand Halliburton is hiring like crazy for Americans to work in Iraq... $80,000 some positions... anyone interested??

You serious?.....

[rickylc]

These bombs are intended to frighten Iraqis and prevent them from collaborating with Americans.

Which makes it all the more important that we stand our ground and do not leave Iraq until these scumbags are eliminated and Iraq is stable.

We left them in the lurch in Gulf War I, we can not do it again!!!!

[saquin]

I don't know. I guess it's not that easy.

[serurier]

Please look this news :

2 GIs Die Disposing Iraqi Explosives
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A man wearing an explosives belt blew himself up Monday outside the home of two tribal leaders who have cooperated with American forces. Two U.S. soldiers were killed while disposing of explosives in northern Iraq (news - web sites).

Three Iraqi guards were seriously wounded in the blast outside the compound of brothers Majid and Amer Ali Suleiman in Ramadi, northwest of Baghdad.

Witnesses said the brothers were receiving callers when a man approached the compound but was told to leave. He returned moments later and triggered the explosives, the witnesses said. The brothers are two of the city's most prominent tribal leaders who have worked with coalition forces.

Insurgents have repeatedly warned Iraqis not to cooperate with the Americans. The most recent threats were contained in pamphlets circulated in Ramadi and nearby Fallujah by a purported coalition of 12 insurgent groups.

Ramadi and Fallujah are located in the Sunni Triangle, a major center of resistance to the U.S.-led occupation.

The two American soldiers were killed in an explosion outside Sinjar near the northern city of Mosul during an operation to dispose of ordnance, deputy operations chief Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said.

Five soldiers were hurt in the blast, according to a statement issued by the U.S. military's Task Force Olympia. The statement said the soldiers were moving mortar shells and rocket propelled grenades from a storage area to a demolition point when the explosion occurred.

One of the soldiers was killed instantly. The second soldier died later of his injuries. Three of the injured were hospitalized in stable condition and two others were treated for minor injuries and returned to duty.

The names of the two victims were withheld pending notification of their families.

Elsewhere, U.S. and Iraqi forces deactivated several rockets that were primed for launch along a road toward the city of Baqouba, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Also Monday, defense officials in Washington said American forces in Iraq have detained one of the remaining most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government.

Muhsin Khadr al-Khafaji, No. 48 on the 55 most-wanted list, was turned over last weekend to U.S. troops in the Baghdad area, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The officials did not say who turned him over.

In Baghdad, the U.N. experts met with several Iraqi politicians in a second round of meetings Sunday to discuss the chances of holding early elections, a source of conflict between the United States and the influential Shiite clergy.

Team leader Lakhdar Brahimi met individually with several members of the U.S.-installed Governing Council to "gather facts," said Ahmad Fawzi, the team's spokesman.

The transfer of power is becoming a major headache for the U.S.-led coalition and the Governing Council.

The current U.S. plan is to choose legislators in regional caucuses, a move opposed by the country's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani. It is hoped that Brahimi's team, which arrived Saturday on what is believed to be a 10-day mission, will help break the impasse.

Brahimi is expected to travel to the Shiite holy city of Najaf to meet al-Sistani, but no date has been disclosed.

In Samawah, a heavily armored convoy of Japanese soldiers arrived Sunday as part of Tokyo's first military deployment in a hostile region since 1945.

The ground troops, mostly engineers, lead a deployment that will eventually reach about 800 soldiers in a humanitarian mission to improve water supplies and other infrastructure projects around Samawah. Another 200 soldiers will remain in Kuwait.

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I don't know , why soldier attack munitions by them hand . If use weapon attack munitions it's security .

[GeronL]

I heard it on the radio. Some jobs pay more. If you stay for a year there ain't no income taxes.

[Calpernia]

Ping!

[Calpernia]

You have freep mail

[Paleo Conservative]

The intel also said AQ wants to start an Iraqi civil war...

How uncivil of them.

[saquin]

Well, I think the soldiers that were killed were moving the munitions to a safe place to detonate them. I assume they can't just explode them where they find them because it's too close to houses and people.

[Michael Barnes]

So does the Democratic Party.

Let 'em start a civil war, we the guns.

[GeronL]

I have a feeling that these evil Halliburton jobs are inside Iraq

[serurier]

I hear Airforce have JDAM and other Accurate weapon ...... And I think Army must built a control network in Iraq :
First is a base of air force network : use F-16 , A-10 , UAV , Airship , or other Blockade and monitor the border from the sky (use E-3 or E-8 support) ;
second is a base of army network ( in ground ): use M1 , M2/M3 Stryker go on patrol ( It's for road side bomb ) ;
Third is Set up national population file .

[Flyer]

Prayers for our FRiends in Baghdad!

[serurier]

More Infromation

:

Suicide Bomber Kills 24 Iraqi Army Recruits in Baghdad

Yahoo.com BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomb exploded at an Iraqi army recruitment center in Baghdad Wednesday, killing 24 recruits, in the second deadly attack against Iraqis working with U.S. occupation forces in 24 hours. "It was a suicide attack by a single male," U.S. Colonel Ralph Baker told Reuters at the scene. He said 24 recruits were killed and 10 to 15 people were badly wounded. "It was aimed strictly at Iraqis," he said. Around 50 people were killed Tuesday in a similar attack against Iraqis outside a police station south of Baghdad. The police force and new army are central to Washington's plan to hand over power to Iraqis by June 30. The U.S. military said Wednesday's attack occurred at around 7:40 a.m. (11:40 p.m. EST Tuesday) when a car drove into the new Iraqi army facility in central Baghdad and exploded. "We were standing in line waiting to start our shift in the new army and we saw a white car drive by us and then blow up. Many died. There were about 400 people in line," said Ghassan Samir, one of four wounded at Yarmuk hospital. U.S. troops cordoned off the area known as Muthana Airport, a small air facility abandoned for decades but recently used by the new Iraqi army. Offices of a fundamentalist Shi'ite Muslim group are situated nearby. "I was driving and just 10 meters in front of me, a car was driving slowly, suddenly he exploded...I hit a tree," Mohammad Jassim, who had cuts on his head, said. The attacks followed a pattern of targeting Iraqis seen as collaborating with the U.S. occupation. Twin suicide bombings in northern Iraq (news - web sites) against two Kurdish parties allied with the United States killed more than 100 people on February 1. Tuesday's suicide car bomb exploded among civilians who had queued outside a police station in the town of Iskandariya, 25 miles south of the capital, to apply for jobs. At least 75 people were wounded and the police station and an adjacent court were badly damaged. Iraqi officials say 300 policemen -- who have been regular targets of suicide bombings -- have been killed by insurgents. The U.S.-trained force is a pillar of U.S. plans to put Iraqis in charge of security before a transfer of sovereignty. IMPOSSIBLE TO DEFEND "It's impossible to defend in every location against every conceivable kind of attack at every time of the day or night," Defense Secretary Ronald Rumsfeld told reporters in Washington after Tuesday's blast. At the same briefing, Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was optimistic about security despite the attack. "We continue to be optimistic about the situation on the ground in Iraq." There has been "a lot of success," Myers said, in bringing stability and security to Iraq ahead of the June 30 target date for handing over power to an Iraqi government. Rumsfeld said between 150,000 and 210,000 Iraqis were working in the security forces, adding they were getting better at it all the time. "That does not mean that there will not be people that are killed. I mean, look at any city on the face of the earth. Everyone's against homicide. And yet in every...major city on the face of the earth, homicides occur every week. Hundreds occur every year in every city. "Now, why if we have all those policemen, why if we have everyone against homicides, do they still occur? The answer is because human beings are human beings." The bombings came after U.S. officials in Iraq said an Islamic militant with links to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network was plotting to ignite a civil war to undermine efforts to hand over power to Iraqis. But Myers said Tuesday the letter's authenticity was still being evaluated. "I haven't read it. I don't know if it's authentic. People who've read it think it is," Rumsfeld added. U.S. troops said Monday they had seized a computer disk containing a letter from Abu Musab Zarqawi, linked by the United States to Ansar al-Islam, outlining plans to destabilize Iraq. The United States says the group, which operates in northern Iraq, is affiliated to al Qaeda.