Al Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Responsibility for Base Attack
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BAGHDAD (AP) – In one of the deadliest attacks on American ground forces since the Iraq war started more than four years ago, a suicide car bomber struck a patrol base northeast of Baghdad and killed American soldiers and wounded 20, officials said.
An insurgent group that includes Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a Web statement Tuesday.
An Iraqi civilian also was wounded in the attack on Task Force Lightning soldiers in Diyala province, a volatile area that has been the site of fierce fighting involving American and Iraqi troops, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
Of the 20 wounded in the attack on the patrol base, 15 soldiers were treated and returned to duty while five others and the Iraqi were evacuated to a medical facility for further care, the military said.
It was the single deadliest attack on ground forces since Dec. 1, 2005, when a roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 on a foot patrol near Fallujah.
Twelve soldiers died when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Diyala on Jan. 20. The military said it might have been shot down but the investigation is still ongoing.
In other devastating attacks, 14 Marines were killed when a roadside bomb struck an amphibious assault vehicle near the western town of Haditha on Aug. 3, 2005. And a suicide bomber struck a mess tent in a base near Mosul on Dec. 21, 2004, killing 22 people, including 14 U.S. soldiers and three American contractors.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni militants that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, said in the posting that it was behind Monday’s attack on am American patrol base in Diyala province.
The attack – one of the deadliest on American ground forces since the Iraq war started more than four years ago – killed nine American soldiers and wounded 20, the military said.
Monday’s attack was the second bold attack against an American base north of Baghdad in just over two months and was notable for its use of a suicide car bomber. Militants have mostly used hit-and-run ambushes, roadside bombs or mortars on American troops and stayed away from direct assaults on fortified military compounds to avoid American firepower.
