It's time for you to avenge the US troops in Iraq!!! If you can't go, then send your son or daughter ASAP!!!
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Dec 23, 2004
US says suicide bomber probably caused Iraq blast
WASHINGTON - A suicide bomber was the likely cause of the deadliest single attack on American troops in Iraq - an explosion at a US base that killed 22 people, the Defence Department's top general said on Wednesday.
'At this point, it looks like it was an improvised explosive device worn by an attacker,' General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference.
The explosion on Tuesday ripped through a dining hall tent while hundreds of troops were eating lunch at Forward Operating Base Marez near the northern city of Mosul.
Military officials initially said a 122mm rocket was the likely cause. Gen Myers would not comment on specific evidence, but said, 'If it was a rocket, you'd find remnants of the rocket. If it were an improvised explosive device you would find remnants of the improvised explosive device.'
In Iraq, military officials said on Wednesday that shrapnel from the explosion included small metal pellets such as ball bearings, which are often used in suicide bombings but are not usually part of the shrapnel given off by rockets or mortars.
Gen Myers did not say whether authorities believe the bomber worked at the base or got into the mess hall some other way. He said military officials in Baghdad would release more details later.
A contingent of FBI bomb technicians has been deployed to help the military investigate the bombing, said an FBI official on condition of anonymity because of bureau policy. The Baghdad-based FBI team will help identify the type of explosive and components used, which could provide forensic links to previous Iraq bombings.
Of the 22 people killed, 13 were US military, five US civilian contractors, three Iraqi security force members and one other non-US individual.
In addition, Gen Myers said 69 people were injured, including 44 US military, seven US contractors, five Defence Department civilians, two Iraqi civilians, 10 contractors of other nationalities and one of unknown nationality and occupation.
He would not say whether officials believe the unidentified corpse was the bomber, or whether the unidentified injured person was involved in the attack. -- AP
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