Insurgent Car Bombs Kills 24 in Iraq; Green Zone Targeted
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BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents unleashed a pair of powerful car bombs here yesterday, one near the symbol of American authority in Iraq known as the Green Zone – an area including the American Embassy and key government offices – and another near hotels occupied by hundreds of foreigners. Two additional explosions brought the day’s bombing toll to at least 24 dead and more than 100 wounded.
More than three-dozen car bombings since the beginning of September illustrate the insurgents’ seeming ability to strike at will, despite recent pledges by America and Iraq to intensify the suppression of insurgents, and the morale-boosting recapture of Samarra over the weekend.
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said yesterday he does not expect a civil war to erupt in Iraq, and pointed to the formerly insurgent-held city of Samarra as an example of success.
“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Mr. Rumsfeld said in New York at the Council on Foreign Relations, when asked about the threat of civil war. “But what has to be done in that country is what basically was done in Samarra over the last 48 hours.”
No coalition forces were wounded in either of yesterday’s blasts in Baghdad, said Major Phil Smith, a spokesman for the 1st Cavalry Division. But the American command reported two of its soldiers were killed at a Baghdad traffic checkpoint Sunday.
In the first car bombing yesterday, insurgents detonated a four-wheel drive vehicle packed with explosives at the western entrance of the heavily fortified Green Zone about 8:45 a.m., said Interior Ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman.
Yarmouk Hospital took in 15 bodies and 81 wounded from the explosion, said Sabah Aboud, the facility’s chief registration official. “I was thrown 10 yards away and hit the wall,” said Wissam Mohammed, 30, whose hand was broken by the blast.
An hour later, across the Tigris River, a pickup truck packed with dates and explosives plowed into a three-vehicle convoy as it left a parking lot shared by several high-rise hotels housing hundreds of foreign contractors and journalists.
At least six people were killed and 15 wounded, said Tahsin al-Freiji, a member of the Facility Protection Service, an American-trained civilian guard force.
Two more car bombs exploded yesterday in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. One of the blasts killed a civilian bystander and two people believed to be transporting explosives, said a military spokeswoman, Captain Angela Bowman. Hospital officials said they treated 11 wounded. The sec ond bomb targeted an American Army convoy, wounding one soldier, Captain Bowman said.
Meanwhile, Polish leaders said yesterday that Poland should withdraw its troops from Iraq before the end of next year, the first time the key American ally has indicated a time frame for bringing its soldiers home.
President Kwasniewski said no final decision has been made on when to withdraw forces but Warsaw was considering the late 2005 deadline with the hope that elections scheduled for January in Iraq would bring stability to the country.
“We decided to speak with the Iraqis and our coalition partners [and] the United States about a reduction of the Polish forces from January 1 – and maybe to finish our mission at the end of 2005,” Mr. Kwasniewski said on a visit to Paris.
The issue was sparked when the defense minister, Jerzy Szmajdzinski mentioned the possible pullout date in an interview, the first Polish official to do so publicly.
In Washington, a senior White House official said the administration did not believe Poland had changed its position.
“Their position remains the same-that their troops would be there as long as it takes,” the American official said.