IRAQ: Roadside bomb hits U.S. military convoy in Basra; Iraqi army colonel seriously wounded after bomb explodes in his car

Record ID: 357048

  • Title: IRAQ: Roadside bomb hits U.S. military convoy in Basra; Iraqi army colonel seriously wounded after bomb explodes in his car
  • Date: 21st April 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED IRAQI CAPTAIN SAYING: ''An American convoy was passing in the street and a bomb exploded near them. (Reporter asking: Where there any casualties?). I don't know.''
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVACQUWULMMDHB70CKTZ2NZEPZ2C
  • Story Text: onA roadside bomb struck a U.S. military vehicle on Monday (April 21) while on patrol in Basra, witnesses said.
    The bomb set an armoured vehicle on fire. Reuters Television footage showed smoke rising from the scene and U.S. soldiers cordoning off the area.
    No information was immediately available on the number of casualties.
    Witnesses said they saw a military helicopter land in the area to evacuate the wounded.
    Basra has been the scene of a government crackdown on the Shiite Mehdi Army militia since late March. On Saturday (April 19), Iraqi government troops said they captured a stronghold of fighters loyal to anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern city after a massive show of force by U.S.
    warplanes and British artillery.
    The crackdown against the Mehdi Army initially failed to drive the militia from the streets and resulted in fighting in strongholds of Sadr fighters throughout the south of the country and the capital Baghdad.
    In Baghdad, a colonel in the Iraqi army was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded in his car, police said.
    Colonel Mansour Al-Lami was on his way to work in the Dora district, southern Baghdad, when the blast happened.
    Two other government workers were wounded in similar incidents in Baghdad on Monday.
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