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Baghdad arms dump explosion kills 14
26/04/2003 10:54 - (SA)
Baghdad - A huge dump of Iraqi weapons gathered by coalition forces in a residential area of south Baghdad has exploded, sending a missile into a nearby home and killing at least 14 people.
A US officer suspected it was the result of an attack, saying a flare was seen hitting the site where troops were gathering old munitions.
"Someone shot a flare into this disposal site and caused this huge explosion. It is sabotage," Major Frank McClary of the 3rd Infantry Division told AFP.
Furious residents threw stones at US troops as they took victims to a nearby hospital.
"There was an angry crowd, and that's understandable. Some of the crowd threw stones at us when we arrived at the Rashid Camp hospital," McClary said.
He said one US soldier suffered injuries to the neck and back due to the explosion.
Khaled Ibrahim, a volunteer taking casualties to the hospital, said 14 were believed to have died, including four children and three women. He said more than 50 were injured.
Residents in the Zaafaraniya district, however, said they only knew of nine deaths, including those of three who were buried under the rubble in the area about 15 kilometres (10 miles) from the Baghdad city centre.
Shaker Mahmoud, the emergency surgeon at the hospital, said he had seen only six dead but heard the total number dead was 11. He said 30 were wounded.
"Most of them, though, had only superficial wounds. They were treated and then sent home," he said.
The bodies of the six dead taken to the hospital were all from the family of Khazal Saber, doctors said. The victims were between 20 and 50 years old, and lived in two adjoined houses.
"Does God accept this?" said Thamer, the family's eldest son, weeping inconsolably at the hospital.
"We kept telling the Americans not to store explosives so close by. What happened? Why didn't they listen to us?" he asked.
But McClary said US troops were collecting munitions so they could take them away for disposal at a safer location.
"We are now in the process of expediting the collection of the ammunition to send it out of the community," McClary said.
Suad, a pregnant 20-year-old woman who was wounded, said she was preparing breakfast when the blast hit at 8:00am.
"It felt like a huge slap in the face. Everything went dark. I found myself in a car and then here in the hospital," she said.
Suad was sharing her bed with a one-year-old girl, Zenab, who had stains of blood all over her head and pyjamas.
On top of their hospital bed, a small poster was put up to show residents' anger.
"Saddam and Bush don't care about civilian life," it said. - Sapa-AFP
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