Blasts rip through Baghdad

2004-10-04 11:25

Baghdad - A car bomb exploded near an entrance to the Green Zone, a heavily fortified area on the west bank of the Tigris River that is home to the US Embassy and Iraqi government buildings, killing at least 15 people and wounding 81, hospital and military officials said.

Less than an hour later, a second car bomb ripped through Baghdad's central Saadoun Street about 50m from the Baghdad Hotel causing an unspecified number of casualties. Body parts were strewn in the street.

The first explosion happened shortly before 09:00 near a checkpoint at the western entrance to the Green Zone, said Major Phil Smith, a spokesperson for the US 1st Cavalry Division.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman said it was caused by a four-wheel-drive vehicle packed with explosives.

"I was thrown 10m away and hit the wall," said Wissam Mohammed, 30, who was visiting a nearby recruiting center for Iraqi security forces when the explosion happened. He lay in a bed at Yarmouk Hospital, his right hand broken, his head wrapped in bandages and his clothes stained with blood.

Yarmouk Hospital received 15 bodies and 81 wounded from the explosion, said Sabah Aboud, the facility's chief registration official.

Troops cordoned off the scene and helicopters clattered overhead.

Burning body

The second car bomb exploded at 09:45, near a number of major hotels, Abdul-Rahman said. American and Iraqi forces opened fire after the blast, but it was not immediately clear what they were shooting at, witnesses said.

The car carrying the explosives was ripped in half with one part left dangling from a shop sign on the opposite side of the street.

At least five other cars were charred, with a burned body left sitting in one of them. Broken glass littered the street.

Some of the injured, including a man with bloodied bandages wrapped around his head, were helped into nearby hotels. Others were rushed to surrounding hospitals.

Thick black smoke rose from the scene and a pair of helicopters circled the area as troops blocked off the road.

No American forces were believed hurt or killed in either blast, Smith said.

Both the Green Zone and the area around Saadoun Street have been the target of previous suicide attacks that have killed dozens of people.

Insurgents have been waging a 17-month campaign to undermine the US-backed interim government and drive the United States and its allies from Iraq.

- AP