IRAQ: SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS THREE PEOPLE AND INJURES 50 INCLUDING 6 US SOLDIERS IN ARBIL

Record ID: 358886

  • Title: IRAQ: SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS THREE PEOPLE AND INJURES 50 INCLUDING 6 US SOLDIERS IN ARBIL
  • Date: 11th September 2003
  • Summary: (EU) ARBIL, NORTHERN IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 11, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS STREET SCENES (3 SHOTS) 0.13 2. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF GOVERNORATE BUILDING 0.18 3. SMV GOVERNOR OF ARBIL ACRAM MANTAK SITTING AT DESK (2 SHOTS) 0.31 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) GOVERNOR OF ARBIL ACRAM MANTAK SAYING: "Islam is not a religion for extremis
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ARBIL, NORTH IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA9JVPCN0SGLEL1OCAPPIQN7PBF
  • Story Text: U.S. Military says assault in Arbil most probably
    aimed at U.S. soldiers.




    United States soldiers began evacuating several
    vehicles damaged by a suicide bomber in the northern Iraqi
    town of Arbil on Thursday (September 11).

    One Iraqi child was killed and at least two others,
    including the bomber. More than 50 people, including six
    U.S. personnel, were wounded.

    "We are against criminal acts regardless of those who
    carry them out and we condemn any one who commits murder,"
    said a university professor, Fehmy Shukry.

    It was the fifth vehicle bomb attack in Iraq in six
    weeks. Witnesses say a four-wheel drive stopped suddenly in
    front of a house in the Kurdish city of Arbil on Tuesday
    night (September 9) and exploded with the driver inside.

    Arbil Governor, Acram Mantak, condemned the attack
    which he said went against all the principles of Islam.

    "Islam is not a religion for extremists and these
    groups (al Qaeda) are using Islam to justify their criminal
    acts," Mantak said.

    Suggesting it may have been the work of Al Qaeda he
    said the Arbil bomb, together with the other five in
    Baghdad and Najaf during August, were aimed at destabilising
    the region and vowed to fight those intent on doing so.

    "Of course they do and that's why they carried out this
    latest attack. All the other attacks are the same. They
    used the same tactics in Najaf and Baghdad and maybe they
    will try to carry out other attacks. But we are trying to
    protect ourselves and will not allow them to," he said.

    U.S. land commander Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez
    said in Baghdad on Thursday that his information was that 3
    people had been killed but declined to comment on who might
    be responsible for the attack.

    Local people in Arbil said the house which was targeted
    had been used by U.S. intelligence agents. A military
    spokeswoman initially said it had been a "safe house".

    Later, military press officers became tight-lipped,
    confirming little more than that the blast had taken place.

    Fierce flames leapt into the night sky in the aftermath
    of the blast. A woman hurried away cradling a baby and an
    armed man carried a bloodied man over his shoulder from the
    scene.

    The bombing 350 km (220 miles) north of Baghdad was the
    latest setback to U.S.-led efforts to pacify Iraq following
    the war that ousted Saddam Hussein on April 9.

    Almost 70 U.S. soldiers have been killed by hostile
    fire since the official end of major combat in Iraq on May
    1.

    A soldier attached to the U.S. Army's 1st Armoured
    Division was killed in Baghdad on Wednesday (September 10)
    when a bomb exploded during an operation to defuse it, U.S.

    Central Command said.

    The previous day, another soldier was killed when his
    vehicle ran over a home-made landmine northeast of the
    city, bringing to an end a period of more than a week
    during which no U.S. troops had died as a result of hostile
    acts.

    Even more alarming for Washington has been the spate of
    car bombings against foreign organisations and against
    Iraqis working with the occupying powers in recent weeks.

    U.S. officials have mostly blamed diehard Saddam
    supporters but also point the finger at foreign Islamic
    militants. Some are talking of a possible alliance between
    the two groups.

    Vehicle bombers have hit the Jordanian embassy in
    Baghdad, United Nations offices and the capital's police
    headquarters. A top Shi'ite cleric was among more than 80
    people killed by a car bomb in the city of Najaf last
    month.



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