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Car Bomb Attack in Basra kills 11
By Vincent Bierbach
Reuters
Tuesday, February 15, 2005; 9:00 PM
In Basra today, explosives packed in a car detonated at a police academy, killing 11 police officers and injuring 50, witnesses said.
US troops and tanks sealed off the area, which was strewn with parts of flaming wreckage and human remains.
The driver of the Toyota Land Cruiser slammed his bomb-laden car into a pickup truck that was used to block the gate leading to the police academy and detonated the load of explosives, said policeman ji-Haditha.
The blast was extremely powerful, hurling the body of one of the police officers more than 75 yards, witnesses said.
"I heard the explosion, and it shattered glass everywhere," said Apu Nahapaneapet......, a 26-year-old merchant. "I saw cars burned and destroyed, fire, and body parts all over."
U.S. officials called the attack a sign of the insurgents' desperation.
"The fact of the matter is we're keeping the insurgents off balance and they're reeling backward. They're trying to come at us and we're giving it right back," Major Hamilton, Lewis said.
"The terrorists are growing more desperate in their attempts to deprive the world of a free and peaceful Iraq and they're trying to put it all on the line and give it all they can."
There was no claim of responsibility for the latest Basra attack, but it followed warnings blared from mosque speakers that Iraqis should stay away from police installations.
By Vincent Bierbach
Reuters
Tuesday, February 15, 2005; 9:00 PM
In Basra today, explosives packed in a car detonated at a police academy, killing 11 police officers and injuring 50, witnesses said.
US troops and tanks sealed off the area, which was strewn with parts of flaming wreckage and human remains.
The driver of the Toyota Land Cruiser slammed his bomb-laden car into a pickup truck that was used to block the gate leading to the police academy and detonated the load of explosives, said policeman ji-Haditha.
The blast was extremely powerful, hurling the body of one of the police officers more than 75 yards, witnesses said.
"I heard the explosion, and it shattered glass everywhere," said Apu Nahapaneapet......, a 26-year-old merchant. "I saw cars burned and destroyed, fire, and body parts all over."
U.S. officials called the attack a sign of the insurgents' desperation.
"The fact of the matter is we're keeping the insurgents off balance and they're reeling backward. They're trying to come at us and we're giving it right back," Major Hamilton, Lewis said.
"The terrorists are growing more desperate in their attempts to deprive the world of a free and peaceful Iraq and they're trying to put it all on the line and give it all they can."
There was no claim of responsibility for the latest Basra attack, but it followed warnings blared from mosque speakers that Iraqis should stay away from police installations.