• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

U.S. Military: Bombing Kills 20 Iraqis

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide attacker exploded a car bomb Wednesday outside a Baqouba police station being used as a recruiting center, killing at least 20 Iraqis and wounding dozens, the U.S. military said. A local police chief said at least 30 people were killed.

The attacker drove a car carrying explosives into a crowd of people gathered outside the al-Najda station in Babouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, to register for police jobs, said Gen. Walid al-Azawi, chief of police in Diyala Province. He said at least 30 people were killed in the blast.

U.S. Army Capt. Marshall Jackson said he was aware of 20 people dying in the attack, which he said took place "in the heart of Baqouba" near a police station, government buildings and a crowded market place.

"It looked to be a white truck that just parked right in the heart of this area, right across the police station and blew up," Jackson told The Associated Press. "Right now it doesn't look great. It's all civilians casualties at this stage."

Ali Hassan, in charge of the morgue at the Baqouba General Hospital, said between 20-30 Iraqis were killed in the blast.

Another hospital official, Hussein Ali, said at least 55 people were injured.

Numerous ambulances converged on the scene and ferried the dead and injured to the nearby hospital while police sealed off the area surrounding the attacked police station, preventing large crowds or onlookers, including the media, from approaching the building.

The al-Najda station was being used as a recruiting center for Iraqis wanting to join the police.

Baqouba has been the scene of regular anti-coalition attacks since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March, 2003, but fighters have also targeted Iraqi police forces, who are regarded as easier targets than the better equipped American troops.

On July 19, a fuel tanker truck plowed toward a police station in southwest Baghdad, detonating and killing at least nine people and wounding more than 60 people.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb exploded and killed one U.S. soldier and injured three others while on patrol in northern Iraq, the military said Wednesday.

The 1st Infantry Division soldiers were in an armored Humvee when the bomb detonated late Tuesday in the town of Balad-Ruz, about 40 miles northwest of Baghdad, according to army spokesman Master Sgt. Robert Powell.

The force of the blast severely damaged the vehicle, killing one soldier, Powell said. Three injured soldiers were hospitalized in stable conditions.

The identity of the slain soldier is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification.

The soldier's death raises the toll of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq to 905 since the war began, according to an Associated Press tally.

More News in this Category