- Suicide bombers penetrated the headquarters of allied
forces in Iraq for the first time yesterday, killing 10 people and provoking
an urgent review of security in Baghdad's Green Zone.
-
- Four American contract workers and six Iraqis died and
at least 18 others were wounded when the bomb exploded at a crowded bazaar
less than 200 yards from the US embassy.
-
- American personnel often shop there for souvenirs. A
second killer struck at a popular cafe.
-
- A contractor said the Green Zone Cafe had been blown
to "smithereens" in the blast. "It doesn't exist anymore,"
he said. "Everyone in the cafe is in pieces. There are pieces of bodies
everywhere."
-
- The American, whose office is across the street from
the site of the first bomb, said he and his colleagues were forbidden by
their company from using the cafe after a bomb was found outside weeks
ago. However, he said, people had started filtering back in.
-
- Abdul Razak Mohammed, a waiter at the cafe, said two
men, aged about 25, came in carrying bags.
-
- "One ordered tea," he said. "They were
asked by another cafe employee if they were Iraqis and the man answered
'No, we're Jordanians'."
-
- One man got up and left and the explosion at the bazaar
followed five minutes later. The cafe bomb exploded after another five
minutes.
-
- The group led by the Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility.
-
- The assault is the most audacious yet on the US-presence
in Iraq and demonstrates the ability of insurgents to escalate the conflict
at will.
-
- It comes on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan,
which last year saw a dramatic increase in attacks on US and Iraqi forces.
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=UUDIS5EI
GTDMHQFIQMFSM5OAVCBQ0JVC?xml=/news/2004/10/15/wirq1
5.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/10/15/ixnewstop.html&secureRefresh=true
&_requestid=26292
|
