Iraq: Coordinated Attack on Palestine Hotel
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Iraq: Coordinated Attack on Palestine Hotel
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The Scotsman - Oct. 24, 2005
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2139662005
At least 20 killed in hotel attack
Three massive vehicle bombs exploded near Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, home to
many foreign journalists, killing at least 20 people.
Dramatic television pictures showed one of the bombers driving a cement
truck through the concrete blast walls that guard the hotel then blowing up
his vehicle.
Iraq's national security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaei, said the attack -
which appeared well planned - was "very clear" effort to take over the hotel
and take foreign and Arab journalists as hostages.
"Three cars came from three different roads, in succession to create
security breaches for terrorists. They were armed with RPGs and light arms,"
Rubaei told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"The plan was very clear to us, which was to take security control over the
two hotels, and to take the foreign and Arab journalists as hostages to use
them as a bargain"
The security adviser said at least 40 people were injured, most of them
passers-by.
Three AP Television News personnel inside the hotel sustained minor
injuries.
Another official, Deputy Interior Minister Hussein Kamal, said four or five
Iraqi police were among the dead.
A US official in Washington said there were no deaths inside the hotel,
which is home to foreign contractors as well as journalists.
The US military said no US troops were injured in the attacks.
***
Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com
Iraqi Rebels Intensify Attacks
Baghdad, Oct 24 (Prensa Latina) Iraqi rebels launched two rockets and
detonated a car bomb against the Palestine Hotel Monday, killing at least 11
people and causing considerable damage to the facility that houses many
foreign journalists.
In other actions, insurgents opened fire at two cars Monday in Baghdad,
killing three municipal workers and a passer-by as police said stepped up
attacks over the last two days have killed at least 44 Iraqis.
Meanwhile, the toll among US troops killed in the Iraq war is approaching
2,000 dead, with the announcement of a Marine killed Sunday during fighting
in western Iraq.
The Marine, who was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine
Expeditionary Force (Forward), was killed by small arms fire in Ramadi, 70
miles west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
The death raised to at least 1,997 the number of members of the US military
who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count.
According to Maj. Abbas Mohammed Suleiman, the attacks against the Palestine
Hotel shattered windows and caused heavy damage to the south side of the
19-story hotel, forcing journalists, to take refuge in the corridor.
After the attack, heavy weapons fire rang out in the area although it was
not clear what it came from.
In other insurgent actions, a suicide car bomber killed two Iraqis and
wounded five in an attack on a police patrol in the northeastern
neighborhood of Shaab, where insurgents had kidnapped and murdered a defense
lawyer in Saddam Hussein's trial last week, said police Lt. Malik Sultan.
Rebels also opened fire on an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Baghdad,
killing a soldier, said police 1st. Lt. Thaeir Mahmod.
In two other attacks in the capital, a drive-by shooting killed one
policeman and two others were wounded by a roadside bomb, authorities said.
*
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