Seventeen people were killed and 15 injured when three car bombs exploded near hotels occupied by journalists and other foreigners in central Baghdad on Monday, sending massive clouds of fire and smoke into the sky.
The explosions, two smaller ones followed by a huge blast within minutes of each other, shattered windows at the Palestine hotel, and were followed by the rattle of automatic weapons fire, a journalist living there said.
”The victims are either security guards, hotel employees or passers-by,” a security source said, but he was unable to say if any foreigners were among the dead or injured.
The attacks hit around Ferdus square, where the world watched the statue of ousted president Saddam Hussein being toppled after United States invasion troops marched into Baghdad in April 2003.
The Palestine, Sheraton and Sadir hotels are located near the square.
The bombs exploded just before Iftar, the traditional sundown meal eaten by Muslims to break the fast during the holy month of Ramadan, and broke a relative lull in attacks in the capital in recent weeks.
A shock wave that followed the flashes was felt across central Baghdad, including inside the heavily protected Green Zone, and huge gray and black clouds billowed up from the buildings.
”A car bomb exploded in front of the mosque 14 Ramadan [which is also on the square],” a security source said, as US soldiers sealed off the area.
Images broadcast on CNN television showed serious damage inside the Palestine hotel.
On April 8 2003, the day before Saddam was ousted, a US tank fired on the hotel, killing a cameraman for Reuters news agency and Spanish cameraman Jose Couso of Telecinco. — AFP
