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Posted on 04/12/2003 1:06:41 AM PDT by Asher
Apr. 12, 2003
US Marines discover cache of suicide vests in Baghdad school
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq
US Marines have discovered an enormous cache of suicide bomb vests hidden in a school in a residential neighborhood of central Baghdad.
The black leather vests with wires running along them weighed about 8 kilograms (20 pounds) and were filled with long rectangular blocks of C4 plastic explosive and hundreds of ball bearings.
The cache was discovered on Thursday and reporters were shown the site on Saturday.
The Marines found the 50 vests, on hangers and sealed in plastic, arranged in two rows on the floor of a classroom in which the desks and chairs were stacked in the back. A green chalkboard in front had a picture of Saddam Hussein on it.
The room in the school, which was about 20 feet (6 meters) from an adjacent home, appeared to be a science classroom. Beakers filled cabinets on the walls, where there were posters of organism cells.
Cardboard boxes filled with detonator boxes with two red switches on one side and Velcro on the other were found outside the classroom. Stacks of plastic bags filled with blocks of reddish brown putty, that Marines suspect were also explosives, stood outside.
In the courtyard, Marines found a roll of red detonation chord, three boxes of dynamite, a crate of electrical chord in a box marked explosives and stacks of empty hangers.
American troops in Iraq are in a state of high alert for ambushes and suicide attacks by fighters loyal to Saddam. Before Baghdad fell, Saddam's officials had promised waves and waves of suicide attacks against the invading US troops.
On Thursday, four Marines suffered serious wounds when a man strapped with explosives approached a US checkpoint near the Baghdad neighborhood of Saddam City and blew himself up. Last week, two Iraqi women blew themselves up in an attack on US forces, killing three American soldiers in western Iraq. US soldiers also killed.
The US Army fears that Republican Guard soldiers and paramilitary militants may have discarded their uniforms in order to carry out suicide attacks disguised as civilians.
I know this is old but I hope that you might be able to help me, you guys always seem to know where to look. This was my site and there was a ton of video coverage about it, I just can not find any of it. I understand when this story broke that it was a fairly big deal, I know I thought it was, but know that I am home I cant find any footage of it. Thanks for any help.
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