"It was a suicide attack by a single male," U.S. Colonel Ralph Baker told Reuters at the scene. Baker later told CNN a total of 36 Iraqi men died in the attack.
"It was aimed strictly at Iraqis," he said, adding the car was laden with 300-500 pounds of plastic explosives mixed with artillery shells to maximize the "kill effect."
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Captain Fakr al-Jaleel (sp): ICDC company commander in Baghdad: I would promise the Iraqi people that we will stay forever helping and providing help for the Iraqis and they will take bigger responsibilities in order to maintain the security and save the life for the Iraqi people.
Gen. Dempsey: There are a lot of courageous young men and women that are willing to be part of the future of Iraq; this young man just happens to be one of them. And I'm very proud that he agreed to be here with me today. I'm very proud of what he's doing and his soldiers -- you often wonder why I'm so optimistic about the future, it's, generally speaking, because I run into a young man like this captain here often.
