From Times Online
April 12, 2007
Suicide bomber strikes at heart of Iraqi Parliament building
US helicopters fly over the convention centre, which houses the parliament, after the suicide attack
(Ali Haider/EPA)
US helicopters fly over the convention centre, which houses the parliament, after the suicide attack
Sam Knight and agencies
Violence reached the heart of the Iraqi Government today, when at least two MPs were killed and ten others were wounded in a suicide attack on the canteen of the parliament building in Baghdad.
Iraqi officials and witnesses said that a suicide bomber blew himself up on the first floor of Baghdad's convention centre, which sits in the heavily-fortified Green Zone and is one of the most secure buildings in the city.
The convention centre houses the Iraqi parliamentary chamber and dozens of legislative offices. No Britons were reported hurt in the blast.
Mohammed Awad, a member of the National Dialogue Front, was killed in the explosion, according to Saleh al-Mutlaq, the leader of the Sunni party. A female Sunni MP is believed to be among the injured.
Mukhlis al-Zamili, of the Shia Fadhila party, said a Kurdish MP had also died and that six of those wounded were members of the bloc loyal to the radical Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr. There were unconfirmed reports of a third fatality.
"It seems that the attack was carried by a suicide attacker wearing an explosive vest," said Mr al-Zamili.
A witness told Reuters that the explosion happened the cash register in the canteen, which is on the same floor as the 275-seat parliamentary chamber. Legislators and their staff were having lunch between sessions when device went off.
"There was a big blast, I saw the fire. There were many, many wounded. Windows were shattered," said the witness, who was lightly wounded in the arm.
"The explosion took place in a cafeteria while several lawmakers were eating lunch," said Mohammed Abu Bakr, who heads the media department at the parliament. "Several people were wounded, including members of parliament and some employees."
On a day of violence in the capital, in which one of Baghdad's major bridges was also destroyed, MPs described their shock at the extraordinary breach in security.
Mohammed al-Dayni, another member of the National Dialogue Front, told Iraqi television: "I am standing now at the site of the explosion and looking at the severed legs of the person who carried out the operation. If this tells us anything, it tells us that security is lax."
The attacker would have had to bypass several checkpoints and metal detectors, both at the entrance to the Green Zone and then at the parliament building, to bring an explosive device into the convention centre. Inspections are usually so rigorous that visitors to the building have to take the battery out of their mobile phone to show that it is not booby-trapped.
Witnesses said that sniffer dogs had been added to the security measures this morning, a rare precaution that suggested there were fears of a terrorist attack. On April 1, US troops discovered two suicide vests inside the Green Zone.
The enormous compound, which houses most of the international interests in Baghdad, as well as the key institutions of the Iraqi Government, has suffered periodic breaches of security since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. But they have mostly been limited to explosions at the entrances and occasional rocket attacks.
Rockets killed two Americans, a soldier and a contractor, last month, a few days after another missile landed within 100 yards of where the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was holding a press conference. No one was wounded in that attack.
The White House condemned today's explosion and Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, said it would not deter American and Iraqi commanders from their joint effort to regain control of the streets of the Iraqi capital.
Operation Law and Order, reinforced by thousands of extra American soldiers and considered by many to be the last-ditch attempt to halt the endemic sectarian violence in Baghdad, has been shaken in the last 48 hours by gun battles and the destruction this morning of the al-Sarafiya bridge, one of the key crossing points over the Tigris river.
"We said there were going to be good days and bad days concerning the security plan," said Ms Rice. "But the commanders are carrying out their responsibilities and working to try to make the population more secure. We're really at the beginning of this and not the end of this."
The British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett said that she was "deeply shocked and saddened to hear of this appalling attack".
"Nothing could highlight more the twisted minds of those who are seeking to disrupt the democratic process in Iraq. Those who carry out these outrageous attacks offer nothing to the Iraqi people except more murder and destruction," she said in a statement.
"The Iraqi people have shown great fortitude and courage. They deserve our full and continued support."
* Have your say
Proves the point that no-one is in control of the self created situation in Iraq. If the ruling class in the green zone are not safe then who is? It is about time United States & the so called coalition admitted they were wrong and said sorry then they might get some support from the people of Iraq to make a better Iraq.
Parvez Hamid, Harlow, United kingdom
A never ending nightmare. A Grimm fairy tale. Idiots at play.
habrow2, ALBANY , NY, USA
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o H
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