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SA men died at Assassin's Gate
15/11/2005 06:18 - (SA)
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| The body of one of the two South Africans killed in a car bomb blast in Baghdad is carried away from the blast scene. (Hadi Mizban, AP) |
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Erika Gibson, Beeld
Pretoria - Two South Africans probably sacrificed their lives to protect that of a United States VIP in Baghdad after a suicide bomber collided with their car early on Monday morning.
Two South Africans died and a third South African and an Iraqi have serious burns after the explosives in the attacker's car blew up on impact.
The two were the 15th and 16th South Africans to die in Iraq while working as security guards, said Ronnie Mamoepe of the foreign affairs department.
The attack took place at the "Assassin's Gate" to the Green Zone in Baghdad, Sapa reported earlier.
US soldiers had given the gate this nickname because it was being regarded as the most dangerous of four entrances to the area.
The South Africans who died on Monday were working for US security company DynCorp International. The company's head office in Texas didn't want to comment on the attack.
Gate is ideal spot for ambush
The men were travelling in a convoy of three cars that left through the gate early on Monday morning.
Another South African, also working as a security guard in Baghdad, said the Green Zone, housing the US and British embassies, as well as Iraqi governments offices, had four main entrances.
Three were fairly safe, as they led directly to a highway. Convoys transporting VIPs could move fast.
At the Assassin's Gate, the convey ran into the city's traffic.
There was a set of traffic lights nearby and during early mornings the traffic slowed down to a crawl.
The security guard said: "We have been expecting an attack at this gate.
"One is completely vulnerable while one is waiting for a gap in the traffic.
"One tries to ward off any possible attackers by a show of power with guns," he said.
"Iraqis working in the zone queue at the gate in the morning to get into the area, and it is an ideal spot for a trap by a suicide bomber."
He said that most of the convoys used three cars, with the VIP travelling in the middle vehicle.
An attacker would aim for the vehicle in the middle and, when that happened, the vehicle in the back would try to stop the attack.
That might have been what happened on Monday when the attacker collided with the vehicle that was at the back.
He said most bombs exploded during the early mornings, when people congregated at specific places.
Protection for diplomats
It was not known how many South Africans were employed by DynCorp, but there were apparently quite a large number of them protecting VIPs.
The company also provided protection for a number of US diplomats and diplomatic buildings in Baghdad and elsewhere.
It was not known whether an American, who was slightly injured during the attack, was also a diplomat or not.
Mamoepe said his department was still battling to get confirmation of the attack and the deaths.
The task was being hamepered because South Africa did not have diplomatic representation in Iraq.
- Beeld
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