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Blasts rock baghdad near coalition headquarters { November 11 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/11/11/sprj.irq.main/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/11/11/sprj.irq.main/index.html
Blasts rock Baghdad near coalition headquarters
Iraqi politician killed in confrontation with U.S. soldiers
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 Posted: 4:30 PM EST (2130 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. military officials said at least two mortar shells or rockets hit Tuesday night within the Iraqi capital's "Green Zone," the center of most of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority's activities.
Lt. Col. George Krivo said there were two explosions in the vicinity of a parking lot near Saddam Hussein's former palace in Baghdad that now serves as the headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
He said the origin of the explosions was not known.
"Crater analysis is going on at the moment. There are no reports of casualties. There are reports of damage to an unknown number of vehicles in the parking lot," Krivo said. "As far as I know, these are the only explosions that happened in the Green Zone tonight."
Earlier reports indicated three or four explosions.
A coalition spokesman said all the authority's staff members have been evacuated to basements.
A CNN security adviser at a hotel in Baghdad saw two strikes in the zone and smoke rising from the sites.
Traffic appeared to be moving normally, and nearby bridges over the Tigris River are open.
The blasts were heard hours after the U.S. Army officer in charge of coalition ground forces in the country said the tempo of attacks on troops has risen.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters that the number of daily engagements between troops and guerrillas has doubled from the mid-teens to 30-35 within the past two months.
"What we're seeing is that unmistakably the number of engagements per day are increasing," Sanchez said.
Those opposed to the U.S. presence also are employing more remote tactics, using rockets and mortars to avoid direct combat with coalition troops, he said.
"When they do decide to engage, we're having good success in killing them," Sanchez said.
In addition, he said, a rocket-propelled grenade appeared to have hit a Black Hawk helicopter that went down Friday during "a vulnerable time" as it prepared to land. Six U.S. soldiers were killed.
Sanchez said U.S. troops also have increased the "pace and intensity" of their military campaign against guerrillas loyal to deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"We are taking the fight into the safe havens of the enemy in the heartland of the country, where we continue to face former regime loyalists, criminals and foreign terrorists," Sanchez said.
Thirty-eight U.S. troops have died this month, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 398. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat May 1, 259 U.S. servicemen and women have been killed.
There is no reliable source for Iraqi civilian or combatant casualty figures, either during the period of major combat or after May 1. The Associated Press reported an estimated 3,240 civilian Iraqi deaths between March 20 and April 20, but the AP said that the figure was based on records of only half of Iraq's hospitals, and the actual number was thought to be significantly higher.
Sanchez said more than 5,000 suspected terrorists of various nationalities are in custody and are being interrogated.
At one time, 20 suspected al Qaeda members were being questioned. It never was established that they belonged to the terrorist group, Sanchez said.
Killing sparks U.S. protests
U.S. military officials said Tuesday that U.S. soldiers shot to death the chairman of Sadr City's governing council during a heated argument this week. Sadr City is a largely Shiite neighborhood in the Iraqi capital, formerly known as Saddam City.
Officials said the quarrel got under way Monday when the chairman, Mohannad Ghazi al Kaabi, tried to park his car near the District Advisory Council building in an area closed to traffic. When U.S. troops tried to stop him, military officials said, he became agitated, got out of his car and began arguing with a soldier guarding the offices.
Kaabi wrestled the soldier to the ground and grabbed his gun, according to the officials. Another soldier shot Kaabi in the upper thigh, they said.
A medic administered first aid to Kaabi and took him to a military hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The death is being investigated, military officials said.
About 200 to 300 demonstrators walked to the Sadr City Council afterward to protest the killing and began chanting anti-American slogans.
Carrying Shiite banners mourning the death, demonstrators called for a thorough investigation. They demanded that American troops leave Sadr City and give security duties to Iraqi police.
Bombings in Basra, Baghdad
A bomb exploded Tuesday in British-controlled Basra, killing two people and wounding two, a British military official said. The bomber was killed in the blast, the official said.
No coalition soldiers were involved in the incident, and there was no further detail about the other casualties.
In Baghdad, a witness said a bomb exploded Tuesday in front of an Iraqi court in the Wazirya neighborhood, wounding at least two prisoners and two Iraqi police officers.
In other action, Sanchez said, Iraqi security forces captured an ambulance Monday carrying a "vehicle-mounted improvised explosive device" near Baghdad.
Police tried to stop the ambulance south of the Daura police station, according a statement from the 1st Armored Division. The ambulance sped away, causing an accident, the statement said. Three people got out of the ambulance and fired small arms at the other vehicle involved in the accident before fleeing, the military said.
Other developments
• With U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush marked Veterans Day by telling families of those killed overseas that their sacrifices came in a just cause. At a speech during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Bush said Americans are "deeply aware" of the losses in Iraq and Afghanistan and that those service members died "in securing freedom in those countries." (Full story)
• Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that trained and armed Iraqis to provide security now outnumber other members of the U.S.-led coalition, including American soldiers. Myers said that 131,000 Iraqis are armed, while the U.S. share of the coalition totals 118,000 troops. Iraqis are conducting security patrols and providing police and border protection in conjunction with other coalition forces, he said.
• More than 800 artifacts looted from Iraq's National Museum in the chaotic days after Saddam's fall were returned Tuesday, Iraqi Ministry of Culture officials said. (Full story)
CNN's Matthew Chance, Paul Courson, Mike Mount and Ismail al Sharif contributed to this report.
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