- Up to 20 people have been killed and several wounded
in a powerful car bomb blast which ripped the main gate to the headquarters
of the US occupation authorities in Baghdad.
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- At least two Americans working for the US Defence Department
were among the dead, a US military spokesman said after the heaviest attack
in Baghdad in months caused devastation at the checkpoint known as Assassin's
Gate.
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- "Sixteen Iraqis and two US Defense Department employees
were killed," the spokesman, quoted by AFP said, stressing that his
toll did not count those taken to local hospitals.
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- Another two people were reported dead at Baghdad's Yarmuk
hospital, an emergency room doctor said.
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- The US spokesman identified the wounded taken to US military
hospitals as 22 Iraqi civilians, four US civilian contractors and two US
soldiers.
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- The combined toll from US officials and hospitals put
the number of wounded at 65.
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- Reuters reports put the toll at 18.
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- Unemployed among victims
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- A large number of people had been queuing for work inside
the compound, when the blast occurred.
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- According to Aljazeera's correspondent, a vehicle, the
pick-up truck model which is used by US officials or guests of the occupation
authorities, stopped at the main gate of the strictly-secured compound.
As a soldier approached the vehicle, for a security check, it exploded.
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- Those queuing at the compound were among dead and wounded.
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- Glass and shrapnel were scattered up to 600 metres from
the site of the blast.
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- Reuters television footage showed wounded people lying
near a gate to the high security Green Zone, the US civilian and military
base in the Iraqi capital, which is a former palace of ousted dictator,
Saddam Hussein. Cars were on fire in the background as smoke spewed into
the sky.
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- Witnesses
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- One witness, quoted by AFP, said it was a car lining
up to enter the compound that exploded.
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- "Soldiers panicked. One was thrown to the ground.
I saw an Iraqi employee hit the ground. He was wounded. It was so strong.
The blast was so strong. I never heard anything like that before".
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- Another witness, an Iraqi employee of the US authorities,
who was waiting to enter the compound, said he saw five bodies lying on
the street.
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- "There was a pick-up truck and six GMC cars,"
the witness said.
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- GMC sports utility vehicles are often used by western
contractors and occupation authority employees.
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- Basra blast
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- Two British soldiers were injured in a bomb blast in
Basra on Sunday, one seriously, according to Iraqi traffic police.
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- Two Iraqi officers also received minor injuries when
the explosion happened at 06:00 GMT local time.
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- Iraqi traffic police said the blast happened when a British
military convoy approached a crossing.
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- The explosion followed the car bomb blast in Baghdad.
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- Aljazeera + Agencies
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- http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D3C27AA5-4AFA-4
640-9BAD-391FB118D099.htm
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