Some 15 persons were killed in Baghdad
At least 15 persons were killed and other 80 injured in a booby trapped car explosion near a military barrier for the American forces at one of the entrances of the Green Zone in the downtown of Baghdad yesterday.
The explosion took place outside the headquarters of the recruitment headquarters near the green area which is subjected to tough security measures as the American embassy and the Iraqi government headquarters are located there. The bodies of the killed and wounded were taken to al-Yarmouk hospital. The health condition of several wounded people was described as critical.
Witnesses and security sources said that one car came at a high speed towards the entrance where an inspection point for the American army exists, but blew up amid the passersby before reaching it. Helicopters flew in the sky of the area.
One American military spokesman said that the car was stuffed with explosives and less than one hour from that, a strong explosion took place in al-Sadoun street in the downtown of Baghdad. Preliminary news reports said that two persons were killed as a result of the explosion.
Earlier in the day, some 11 persons were killed and others injured in the two recent air raids for the American war planes against Falluja city to the west of Baghdad.
In a statement, the US army said that its jet fighters launched two raids that targeted two houses in al-Jomhoreyah quarters in the downtown of the city, yesterday at dawn. The statement alleged that the house which was targeted by the first raid was sheltering 25 gunmen, while the second raid which came two hours later targeted another house in the same quarters and for the same reason.
Meantime, the American occupation forces supported by Iraqi forces belong to the Interim Iraqi government continued its operations in Sameraa city amid news on that the American forces are tightening their iron fist on 70% of the total area of the city which is situated to the north of Baghdad.
In another development, a spokesman for the Iraqi ministry of the Interior said that unidentified persons assassinated the director general in the ministry of sciences and technology Thamer Abdul Latif as well as one woman employee who was escorting him.