The Hindu : International : 21 dead in Baghdad blasts

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Tuesday, Oct 05, 2004

International

International

21 dead in Baghdad blasts

BAGHDAD, OCT. 4. Reisstance forces exploded two car bombs at the gates of the main U.S.-Iraqi headquarters in Baghdad and near major hotels on Monday, killing at least 21 persons and wounding 96. In Fallujah, U.S. warplanes struck what the military called terror hideouts, killing 11, according to doctors who said women and children were among the dead.

The two car bombs ripped through central Baghdad streets about an hour apart.

In the first explosion, a four-wheel drive vehicle packed with explosives detonated outside the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of the U.S. embassy and key Iraqi government offices, said an Interior Ministry spokesman.

Yarmouk Hospital received 15 bodies and 81 wounded from the explosion, said an official.

No coalition forces were hurt in either blast, said the U.S. army.

At least six persons were killed and 15 wounded, said Tahsin al-Freiji of the U.S.-trained Facility Protection Service, which guards major installations in the city.

A pickup truck loaded with dates exploded as it ploughed into the three-vehicle convoy as they emerged from a parking area shared by several major hotels, Mr. Al-Freiji said at the scene. One of the vehicles in the convoy was destroyed, and shrapnel hit the nearby Palestine and Baghdad hotels.

In rebel-held Fallujah, American warplanes unleashed strikes on two houses early on Monday, killing at least 11 people, hospital officials said.

The military, which regularly accuses hospitals of inflating casualty figures, said the strikes targeted followers of Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and their associates.

Polish troops

Poland, a key U.S. ally in Iraq, should withdraw its stabilisation troops at the end of next year, its Defence Minister said in an interview published on Monday — the first time that a Polish official has indicated when Warsaw might end its presence.

Jerzy Szmajdzinski argued that 2 1/2 years in Iraq would be `enough' for the Polish military, and said his suggestion was aimed at countering ``cheap populism'' by opponents of the Polish presence. He later said his remarks were his ``personal opinion'' and were ``not the official position of the government.'' The Prime Minister, Marek Belka, who has often said he wants to transfer more authority to Iraqis to make an eventual withdrawal possible, said he had not been consulted on the remarks.

Two U.S. soldiers killed

Two U.S. soldiers have been killed by small arms fire at a checkpoint in Baghdad, said the U.S. command in a statement on Monday. The soldiers, who were not identified, were killed on Sunday at a traffic control point jointly manned by Iraqi security forces, the statement said.

— AP

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