A massive suicide car bomb that exploded outside a United States military base near the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday wounded 58 American soldiers and an Iraqi translator, said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Pease.
Five of the wounded were flown out to hospital, four to Baghdad and one to Germany, said the commander of First/187 Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division at this town, located 45km west of Mosul.
He said 455kg of explosives had been packed into the vehicle. The explosion blew a hole about 5m wide and 5m deep.
”We were very fortunate,” Pease said. ”If it were not for our force protection measures it would have been carnage.” — AFP
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