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Bomb Destroys Baghdad Hotel, Killing 17

Posted on: Thursday, 18 March 2004, 06:00 CST

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Rescue crews on Thursday called off their search for survivors of a massive suicide bombing of a hotel in Baghdad that killed 17 people, just days before the anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The military had earlier said that 27 people were killed, but U.S. Army Col. Jill Morgenthaler on Thursday put the death toll at 17. She gave no explanation for why it was revised downward.

Elsewhere, gunmen opened fire on a minibus, killing three Iraqi journalists and wounding nine other employees of a coalition-funded TV station in northeastern Iraq, police said.

Rebels often target Iraqis perceived as collaborators with the Americans and the attacks underlined the continued vulnerability of Iraqi civilians nearly a year after Saddam Hussein was ousted.

Insurgents also fired mortar rounds at two U.S. military bases on Wednesday, killing three American soldiers and wounding nine others, the military said Thursday.

At least 45 people were wounded in Wednesday's car bomb attack on the Mount Lebanon Hotel in the heart of Baghdad. One Briton was killed and another was wounded, the British government said.

Morgenthaler confirmed the attack was a suicide bombing but said the destroyed Mount Lebanon Hotel may not have been the intended target because the vehicle loaded with explosives was in the middle of the street and not parked in front of the hotel.

She said it was not clear what the target may have been. The hotel is in the middle of a busy district that is both commercial and residential.

The explosion, which left a jagged 20-foot-wide crater, also torched nearby homes, offices, cars and shops, sending dazed and wounded people stumbling from the wreckage.

A spokesman for the Iraqi Governing Council, Hamid al-Kafaai, blamed al-Qaida for the blast but offered no evidence to support the accusation.

"It is aimed at terrorizing the civilians, destabilizing the country and hampering the democratic march in the country," he said.

A U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said al-Qaida-linked Jordanian Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is among those suspected of playing a key role.

U.S.-funded Arabic Al-Hurra television station captured the blast on video. As a massive fire ball explodes into the night sky about a half mile away and a second later a thunderous boom is heard, an Iraqi woman in a Muslim shawl who was about to be interviewed ducks for cover.

Rescuers pulled two more bodies from the rubble before dawn Thursday and smoke was still pouring from the site 12 hours after the explosion.

The nationalities of all the dead were not immediately known, though the majority are expected to be Iraqi.

A Moroccan, three Jordanians, two Britons, two Lebanese and an Egyptian were registered as having rooms in the Lebanese-owned hotel on the night of the blast, hotel duty manager Bashir Abdel-Hadi said.

He said among those killed were the hotel's three security guards, who were standing in front of it at the time.

Much of the damage from the blast was done to buildings surrounding the hotel. Across the street, the one-story house of a Christian family of seven was virtually destroyed. AP reporters saw four bodies pulled from the wreckage.

"I was sleeping in the room and then I heard a huge explosion, I ran out and then I was hit against the wall," said Jihad Abu Muslah on Thursday while lying in Al Kindi Hospital with bandages over his face.

Sixteen-year-old Walid Mohammed Abdel-Maguid, who lives near the hotel, said, "It was a huge boom followed by complete darkness and then the red glow of a fire." A U.S. soldier less than a half a mile away said the blast - which took place about 8 p.m. - felt as though it were next door.

U.S. Army Col. Ralph Baker of the 1st Armored Division estimated that the bomb contained 1,000 pounds of explosives. He said the bomb was a mix of plastic explosives and artillery shells. That was the same mixture of explosives used in the Aug. 19 suicide attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people.

The Iraqi journalists were killed in the city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, when attackers in a car opened fire on the minibus they were riding in, said Sanaa al-Daghistani, information director of Diyala TV.

Americans, Britons, Egyptians as well as other foreigners were staying at the Mount Lebanon Hotel, said Baghdad resident Faleh Kalhan. But some residents in the area said they believed guests left the hotel a week ago after its management received threats. If true, many casualties were likely in adjacent buildings.

The Mount Lebanon was a so-called soft target because it did not have concrete blast barriers and other security measures that protect offices of the U.S.-led coalition and buildings where Westerners live and work.

The attack came just three days before the first anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war, which began on March 20. It took place behind Firdaus Square, where Iraqis toppled a bronze statue of Saddam on April 9 with the help of U.S. Marines who had just entered the center of the capital.

U.S. officials said the attacks would not change U.S. policy.

"Democracy is taking root in Iraq and there is no turning back," said Scott McClellan, White House spokesman. "This is a time of testing, but the terrorists will not prevail."

The blast shook the nearby Palestine Hotel, where many foreign contractors and journalists are based. It also damaged the nearby Swan Lake Hotel, home to many foreigners, including several journalists.

Across the street from the Mount Lebanon Hotel, the one-story house of a Christian family of seven was virtually destroyed. The bodies of a man and a woman were pulled from the debris.

Assailants, including suicide bombers, have repeatedly carried out bomb attacks in Iraq since August. The targets have included Iraqi police stations, army recruiting centers, the U.N. headquarters and the offices of the international Red Cross.

Referring to a possible role in the attack by al-Zarqawi, the counterterrorism official said that while there were other possibilities, the Jordanian has had a role in a number of large attacks.

However, "it's not his style to claim responsibility for attacks. At this point, it is not clear who is responsible," the official added.

The official said there has been a continuing trend of hitting "soft targets" such as hotels or other civilian sites in Iraq.

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