Suicide Car Bomber Kills 10 in Baghdad
7 minutes ago
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber drove through the gates of police station in northeast Baghdad and detonated an explosive Thursday morning, killing eight people and injuring 28, police and the U.S. military said. The car's driver and a passenger also died in the blast.
Outside Baghdad, a 4th Infantry Division soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a U.S. convoy. U.S. Central Command said the soldier died from wounds received in the attack at 2 a.m. Thursday in Baqouba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Also Thursday, a Spanish military attache was shot to death by a group of men as he was opening his front door, Spain's Foreign Ministry said. Jose Antonio Bernal Gomez was an air force sergeant attached to Spain's National Intelligence Center, according to a ministry statement.
A Spanish diplomat in Baghdad said one of the gunmen who killed Bernal was disguised as a Shiite Muslim cleric.
The man dressed all in black as if a Shiite imam knocked on the military attache's door between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. Without explaining how he knew the details, the diplomat said Bernal was suspicious and ran outside where he was shot in the neck by several men sitting in a dark-colored car.
Thursday's death of an American soldier brought to 92 the number killed in hostile fire since President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major fighting on May 1. A total of 321 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq (news - web sites) since the war began on March 20.
At the bombing site, mangled police cars were scattered around and debris filled the big courtyard in front of the one-story police building. A U.S. officer said the blast left a crater in the courtyard that was about 10 feet across and 4 feet deep. Scores of U.S. soldiers surrounded the building in Humvees.
Capt. Sean Kirley, of the 2nd Armored Cavalry, said three policemen and five civilians were killed. Iraqi police Capt. Bassem Sami said two people were in the car that exploded.
The attacker drove the white Oldsmobile through the police compound gate, was fired at by officers, then detonated the bomb, police Maj. Majid Abdel-Hameed said.
A dozen ambulances raced toward the facility in the Shiite Muslim slum known as Sadr City. The attack happened just as 50 police officers were gathered in the yard to collect their pay.
Sgt. Saad Drawal al-Dharaji, 29, injured in the leg, said a local Shiite Muslim imam had threatened the police.
"We will have our revenge for this. The one who did it threatened us first. I don't know his name. He is the imam of Friday prayers at the al-Mohsen mosque," al-Dharaji said.
"Last Friday at the mosque he threatened us. He sent us letters and sent letters to other police stations. He told the police to hand over a policeman for punishment because he said he had worked with Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime."
Police Sgt. Jassim Mhos, 31, confirmed that threats had been issued against police.
An Iraqi policeman who pushed through the thousands-strong crowd around the scene was stabbed in the upper right arm after being set upon by the mob. He was treated by military medics at the scene.
His arrival created a commotion among the crowd, which began chanting: "No, no to America."
Associated Press Television News camera crews also were attacked by the crowds and had some equipment stolen. One crew member was slightly injured.
A mosque near the scene was blaring warnings to the thousands of residents who had gathered at the station to leave the area for fear of a second booby-trapped car.
"It was a huge blast and everything became dark from the debris and sand. I was thrown to the ground," said Mohammed Adenine, 35, who sells watermelons from a rickety stand across from the blast.
Also opposite the police station, vegetable-seller Fakhriya Jarallah said two of her sons were repairing the outside wall of the compound when the blast occurred.
"I ran across the road like a mad woman to find out what happened to my sons. But thanks to God they are both safe," she said.
Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers conducted a big raid near the Syrian border and detained 112 suspects, including a high-ranking official in the former Republican Guard, officials said Thursday.
The massive raid Sunday in Al-Qa'im, about six miles from Iraq's western border with Syria, ended with the capture of a man intelligence officials said was a major general in the guard air defense branch.
"The general officer that they captured, Abed Hamed Mowhoush al-Mahalowi ... was reported to have links with Saddam Hussein and was a financier of anti-coalition activities, according to intelligence sources," a military spokeswoman said, on condition of anonymity.
Troops from the 1st and 4th squadrons of the Third Armored Cavalry cordoned off sections of the town and searched 29 houses to find "subversive elements," including 12 of the 13 suspects they had targeted for capture, she said.
Bernal, who had been working at Spain's embassy in Baghdad for two years, is Spain's second casualty in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein six months ago. Navy Capt. Manuel Martin Oar was among the 22 killed in the Aug. 19 truck-bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
The government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar supported the war, despite strong opposition among Spaniards, and subsequently sent about 1,300 peacekeeping troops who are based at Diwaniyah, 100 miles south of Baghdad. |
