Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Al Qaeda claims new methods after death of 9 U.S. soldiers
Security
(Gulf News) - An Al Qaida-linked group claimed that it used "new methods" in staging a double suicide bombing with dump trucks that blasted a paratrooper outpost in volatile Diyala province, killing nine Americans from the 82nd Airborne Division and wounding 20 on Tuesday. The attack, which also wounded an Iraqi civilian, underscored the ability of guerrillas of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency to wage war in Iraq four years after the US-led invasion, and it came in a region that has seen violence escalate since US and Iraqi troops launched the security crackdown in Baghdad.
The first truck hit outlying concrete barriers surrounding the outpost at Sadah and exploded after soldiers opened fire. A second truck rammed into the wrecked vehicles, dragging it and other rubble before it exploded 30 yards from two-story building housing the post's troops, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, US military spokesman in north Iraq. Neither vehicle penetrated the patrol base's inner perimeter, but the second powerful blast ruptured the wall of the building, collapsing its second floor and causing most of the soldier casualties, a US military statement said Wednesday.
A civilian house was destroyed and several smaller structures collapsed in a nearby neighborhood, the military said. A civilian hospital and a mosque about 200 meters from the patrol base also were damaged. Fifteen of the 20 wounded US soldiers later returned to duty, the military said.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said the style of the attack fit the pattern of Al Qaida but he said an investigation was under way into who was to blame and exactly what happened. When asked about the "new methods" claimed by the group, he said the military was on heightened alert for dump trucks as they had been used in several recent high-profile attacks. "The use of dump trucks seems to be a recurring theme recently in the last few weeks," he said.
The first truck hit outlying concrete barriers surrounding the outpost at Sadah and exploded after soldiers opened fire. A second truck rammed into the wrecked vehicles, dragging it and other rubble before it exploded 30 yards from two-story building housing the post's troops, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, US military spokesman in north Iraq. Neither vehicle penetrated the patrol base's inner perimeter, but the second powerful blast ruptured the wall of the building, collapsing its second floor and causing most of the soldier casualties, a US military statement said Wednesday.
A civilian house was destroyed and several smaller structures collapsed in a nearby neighborhood, the military said. A civilian hospital and a mosque about 200 meters from the patrol base also were damaged. Fifteen of the 20 wounded US soldiers later returned to duty, the military said.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said the style of the attack fit the pattern of Al Qaida but he said an investigation was under way into who was to blame and exactly what happened. When asked about the "new methods" claimed by the group, he said the military was on heightened alert for dump trucks as they had been used in several recent high-profile attacks. "The use of dump trucks seems to be a recurring theme recently in the last few weeks," he said.
Labels: 82nd Airborne Division, Al Qaeda, Diyala, dump trucks, Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, Sadah, truck bomb
