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SA guest in Iraqi hotel blast
28/01/2004 10:27 - (SA)
Baghdad - A car bomb exploded in front of a hotel used by Westerners in central Baghdad on Wednesday, partially destroying the three-storey building and killing at least four people including a South African, officials said.
Three burned out cars were seen in front of the Shaheen hotel, only their metal skeletons remaining. Another half burned car lay a short distance away, on Masbah street in the upscale Karadah district. What looked like pieces of flesh lay on the ground in front of the hotel.
The US military command and Karadah police chief Kadhim Khalas said three Iraqis were killed. At least 17 people were admitted to four hospitals including a foreigner, doctors said. Khalas said it was not clear if the car carrying the explosives was moving or stationary.
South African guest killed
A hotel receptionist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a South African guest was also killed. He gave no other details.
Interim Minister of Work and Social Affairs Sami Izara al-Majoun, who lived in the hotel, was getting ready for his morning prayers when a loud explosion shook his room at about 06:50 (03h50 GMT) and the building was filled with smoke. He was unhurt.
"My guards came to the room and rushed me downstairs. The hotel was burning and there was fire and smoke everywhere," he said.
Residents and relatives of hotel employees said the hotel had received anonymous threats, asking the management to evict foreigners. This could not be independently confirmed.
Parts of the hotel's concrete walls were torn away, leaving gaping holes and destroying the interior. The walls that remained were blackened.
Two other buildings nearby were badly damaged - one housing policemen assigned to protect embassies in the area, and the other a company that sells fire extinguishers.
The Shaheen hotel is close to the former US Embassy, the Belarus Embassy and a police station.
The blast occurred a day after two roadside bombs exploded west and south of Baghdad, killing six US troops and two Iraqis. Also on Tuesday, two CNN employees were shot and killed by unidentified assailants on a highway, just outside Baghdad when they were driving back from an assignment.
At least five hotels used by foreigners in Baghdad have been attacked by insurgents in the past with car bombs, rockets and other explosive devices.
Car bombs have become a favourite weapon of guerrillas fighting against US-led coalition forces. They have usually targeted US troops and Iraqi police, but often Iraqi civilians have been the victims.
A suicide car bomb at the gate of the US compound in Baghdad on January 18 killed at least 31 people and injured more than 120 Iraqis.
- AP
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