Several killed in Baghdad blast
Several Iraqis and a US soldier have been killed and many people wounded, including three occupation troops, by a car bomb at the entrance of the Green Zone complex in central Baghdad.
Our correspondent reported that the car was booby-trapped.
Quoting witnesses, the correspondent said 10 people were killed and scores wounded.
An occupation official however said six Iraqis and a US soldier were killed, the correspondent added.
“There were Iraqi civilians that were killed that were waiting in line,” Colonel John Murray told reporters on Thursday, adding that the bomb had “very seriously wounded” at least three US soldiers.
The explosion left several cars ablaze at the entrance to the sprawling headquarters of the US-led occupation in Iraq, according to witnesses.
“We saw a car on fire. We think it was a car bomb. There were two bodies covered in sheets,” said Muhammad Talum, who lives close to the 14th of July Bridge, the entrance to the heavily-fortified headquarters, nicknamed the Green Zone.
Queue
The huge blast occurred just after 7:00 am (0300 GMT) on Thursday as civilians were queuing in their cars to enter the 14th of July Bridge, used only by the military and employees of the US-led occupation authority.
|
“We saw a car on fire. We think it was a car bomb. There were two bodies covered in sheets” Muhammad Talum, |
Flames engulfed several cars in the queue on the heavily-fortified bridge, which is protected by Iraqi security forces and the US military as well as cement barriers.
Soldiers in armoured humvees and police roped off the area as the inferno belched black smoke.
The powerful blast rattled windows in the neighbouring eastern Karrada neighborhood.
The last major car bomb in Baghdad hit the Mount Lebanon Hotel in mid-March.
There have been more than 30 major bombings in Iraq since last July after the US-led occupation ousted Saddam Hussein.
KPU members hurt
Three members of the Kurdistan Patriotic Union party (KPU), led by the Kurdish Iraq’s governing council member Jalal al-Talabani were wounded in an explosion in Baquba on Thursday, Aljazeera correspondent reported.