A central Baghdad hotel used by foreign journalists and contractors, and guarded
by American troops, has been hit by three huge suicide bombs.
At least 20 people were killed and 42 others injured when the explosive devices
detonated outside the Palestine Hotel in the city centre. Some members of the
media are believed to be among the injured.
The attacks were launched from Firdous Square, adjoining the hotel, where American
troops pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein in what became one of the iconic
images of the war. Soon afterwards, President George Bush declared that the
war had been successfully concluded.
Yesterday's attack was one of the most spectacular mounted during the increasingly
violent insurgency which has followed, and is being seen as a vivid example
of how little control the Americans and their Iraqi allies have in the heart
of the capital.
According to the Iraqi government, the intention of the insurgents was to storm
the hotel and take hostages. However, the concentration of the media in the
vicinity also presented the bombers' the opportunity for widespread international
coverage.
It was the second time the 19-storey Palestine has come under attack leading
to deaths. As US forces were first moving into Baghdad, an American Abrams tank
shelled the hotel, killing and injuring a number of journalists.
In yesterday's attack, a cement-mixing truck packed with explosives is said
to have driven into a 12ft concrete blast-wall surrounding the Palestine and
another hotel, the Sheraton.
A car, also carrying a bomb, stationed near the truck exploded almost simultaneously.
About two minutes later, a third bomb followed, behind the 14th Ramadan mosque
in front of the square. Unconfirmed reports said that a number of rockets had
also been fired into the area.
The blasts showered debris over the surrounding district. A black cloud of
dust spread over the city centre late in the afternoon as local people were
preparing for ifthar, the breaking of the Ramadan fast.
US and Iraqi forces rushed reinforcements to the hotels which are used as head
offices for the American television network Fox News, Associated Press and the
US-funded Alhurra television station. Other news organizations, including the
BBC and Reuters, have bases nearby.
The bombs were followed by sustained gunfire. Iraqi police said they had come
under sniper attack, but witnesses claimed police opened up with heavy weaponry
at random in the aftermath of the bombings.
The blasts shattered windows at the Palestine and caused extensive damage inside.
At least six people were injured inside the hotel, and, according to news agencies,
a number of photographers were among the casualties outside. A US Army Bradley
armoured car was damaged but the Pentagon stated that there had been no American
casualties.
Mouwafak al-Rubaei, the national security adviser to the Iraqi government,
declared that the attack was a "well-planned and very clear effort"
to take over the hotel and take hostages.
"Three cars came from three different roads in succession to create security
breaches for the terrorists. They were armed with RPGs and light arms,"
he said. "The plan was very clear to us, which was to take security control
over the two hotels, and to take the foreign and Arab journalists as hostages
to use them as a bargain."
Captain Abdul Mohammed Ghani of the police said: "We have had a lot of
casualties." The Deputy Interior Minister, Hussein Kamal, added: "There
are four or five Iraqi police among the dead, but civilians have been killed
as well."
Ahmed Safaa Hamid, who witnessed the blasts, said: "They were very, very
big, one after the other. There was a lot of rifle fire as well, everywhere.
The ambulances took a lot of bodies away. There was blood and glass and metal
everywhere and many people injured, shouting and crying."
Violence continued elsewhere in Iraq, resulting in 24 deaths. Twelve construction
workers were killed near Mussayib, 40 miles south of Baghdad, and police found
six bodies, three women and three men, in the town of Iskandariyah. A US Marine
was killed in Ramadi, bringing the toll of American soldiers killed in combat
operations since the invasion to 1,994.