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http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/12/22/iraq-US041222.html
Last Updated Wed, 22 Dec 2004 15:40:56 EST
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber was likely responsible for the attack that killed 18 Americans and four Iraqis at a base in northern Iraq, a top Pentagon official confirmed Wednesday.
The explosion on Tuesday ripped out the roof of the mess tent at Marez base. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dean Hoffmeyer)
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, said it appears the blast which ripped through a mess tent at Base Marez was caused by an "improvised explosive device worn by an attacker."
U.S. troops have shut down bridges and sealed off neighbourhoods in the northern Iraqi city as they hunt for suspects.
Soldiers blocked five major bridges and searched house to house in some districts in Mosul on Wednesday, one day after the deadly attack.
Initial reports said a 122-mm rocket slammed through the tent's ceiling and sprayed shrapnel at soldiers eating lunch.
But a radical Sunni Muslim group that claimed responsibility for the attack, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, called it a "martyrdom operation," implying that a suicide bomber struck the mess hall.
The blast killed 18 Americans â “ 14 soldiers and four civilian contractors â “ and four Iraqis, the U.S. military command in Baghdad said Wednesday.
Fifty-one U.S. military personnel were among the wounded, which also included American civilians, Iraqi troops and other foreigners.
Workers and U.S. soldiers tend to people injured in the blast. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dean Hoffmeyer)
Among the dead are four employees and three subcontractors of Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., a supplier to oil and gas companies, said company spokesperson Wendy Hall.
Doctors at the military hospital near Mosul treated dozens of soldiers for burns, shrapnel wounds and eye injuries.
The explosion capped a week of deadly attacks across Iraq that showed the increasing power of insurgents before the national elections scheduled for Jan. 30.
President George W. Bush vowed on Tuesday that the deaths would not set back the election, telling the victims' relatives that their loved ones died on "a vital mission for peace."
"I'm confident democracy will prevail in Iraq," he said.
Iraq's interim prime minister Ayad Allawi said those responsible for the attack also want to stir up sectarian civil war.
Mosul, which lies about 360 kilometres north of Baghdad, has seen mounting attacks by militants in the past year, especially after a U.S.-led offensive on insurgents in Fallujah in November.
Written by CBC News Online
Mod. edit: just added the text
Last Updated Wed, 22 Dec 2004 15:40:56 EST
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber was likely responsible for the attack that killed 18 Americans and four Iraqis at a base in northern Iraq, a top Pentagon official confirmed Wednesday.
The explosion on Tuesday ripped out the roof of the mess tent at Marez base. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dean Hoffmeyer)
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, said it appears the blast which ripped through a mess tent at Base Marez was caused by an "improvised explosive device worn by an attacker."
U.S. troops have shut down bridges and sealed off neighbourhoods in the northern Iraqi city as they hunt for suspects.
Soldiers blocked five major bridges and searched house to house in some districts in Mosul on Wednesday, one day after the deadly attack.
Initial reports said a 122-mm rocket slammed through the tent's ceiling and sprayed shrapnel at soldiers eating lunch.
But a radical Sunni Muslim group that claimed responsibility for the attack, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, called it a "martyrdom operation," implying that a suicide bomber struck the mess hall.
The blast killed 18 Americans â “ 14 soldiers and four civilian contractors â “ and four Iraqis, the U.S. military command in Baghdad said Wednesday.
Fifty-one U.S. military personnel were among the wounded, which also included American civilians, Iraqi troops and other foreigners.
Workers and U.S. soldiers tend to people injured in the blast. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dean Hoffmeyer)
Among the dead are four employees and three subcontractors of Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., a supplier to oil and gas companies, said company spokesperson Wendy Hall.
Doctors at the military hospital near Mosul treated dozens of soldiers for burns, shrapnel wounds and eye injuries.
The explosion capped a week of deadly attacks across Iraq that showed the increasing power of insurgents before the national elections scheduled for Jan. 30.
President George W. Bush vowed on Tuesday that the deaths would not set back the election, telling the victims' relatives that their loved ones died on "a vital mission for peace."
"I'm confident democracy will prevail in Iraq," he said.
Iraq's interim prime minister Ayad Allawi said those responsible for the attack also want to stir up sectarian civil war.
Mosul, which lies about 360 kilometres north of Baghdad, has seen mounting attacks by militants in the past year, especially after a U.S.-led offensive on insurgents in Fallujah in November.
Written by CBC News Online
Mod. edit: just added the text
