US blames attackers for missile dump blast

Six people died when an American-held ammunition dump near Baghdad which held 80 Iraqi missiles exploded today, showering nearby homes with warheads, rockets and mortars.

At least 10 other Iraqis were wounded.

The US military blamed unknown attackers who they said fired four flares into the sprawling open ammunition dump.

But hundreds of enraged, screaming Iraqis blamed Iraq’s new American overseers, threatening a dangerous rise in the of anti-American resentment.

“This is the safety that Bush promised us?” demanded Munthir Safir, the blood of his family dried on the cloth of his white caftan.

Around him, wailing women collapsed over the coffins of two adults and four teenagers.

“No Saddam! No Bush! Yes to Islam!” fist-waving men shouted, pouring out condemnation of America.

The disaster sparked protests in the stricken Zafaraniyah neighbourhood and in the city centre.

Hours later, smoke was still pouring from the blackened crater left at the missile cache, as explosives boomed, a rocket whistled and rounds popped. One unexploded missile protruded from a lawn.

US forces promised to send removal experts.

In Doha, Qatar, US Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Mark Kitchens placed blame squarely on what he called “the despicable people” who fired the flares.

“This is not just an attempt to disrupt the process of peace. It’s a crime against the Iraqi people,” Kitchens said.

The disaster struck at 7.50am (4.50am Irish time) as residents slept or assembled bread and tea for breakfast.

Sgt 1st Class Ronald King, a witness, said that someone who was out of sight of US troops at the depot fired four flares over a wall around an open field that the forces had been using to store the ordnance.

Americans said some of the tactical weapons had been stored there by Saddam’s regime, proven throughout the war to have stashed such items in schools, homes and other populated areas.

But the US military had put some of the ordnance there itself, collecting abandoned Iraqi caches from around the city for later disposal, King said.

Colonel John Peabody, commanding officer of the US Army’s 11th Engineering Brigade, which had been helping to handle the site, said the cache included Russian-made Frog-7s and Iraq’s own Al Samoud II – 80 missiles in all.

The flares hit an ammunition pit, setting fire to wooden ammunition crates, King said.

In a flash, deadly remnants of Saddam’s regime were pounding homes without warning. Booms rattled windows across the city.

About about a mile away, a missile ploughed into a dirt lane between two rows of crude two-story homes. Walls crumbled and roofs blew off, demolishing four houses.

Inside one, the impact killed a 50-year-old worker, his four teenage children and his 23-year-old daughter-in-law, a new mother.

“Our house collapsed. That’s all I remember,” Mohammed Khazaal, 15, said from a hospital bed, his head wrapped in bandages and gashes across his body.

A brother of the dead young woman, he had been sleeping when the missile hit.

Nearby, medical workers treated deep cuts in the legs of Zeineb Thamer, the year-old daughter of the woman who died. Blood matted Zeineb’s light-brown hair. In English, the message on her T-shirt declared, “Welcome, Little Friend.”

Peabody said 10 or more Iraqis sustained injuries. Residents said two would undoubtedly die.

He said US forces initially came under small-arms fire when they went to the scene, and returned fire. There was no word on further casualties.

Peabody would not speculate on exactly who fired the flares. “Somebody who does not want us to be here,” he said.

Ultimately, Peabody said, the fallen Iraqi regime was responsible.

“We are very sorry that the practice of Saddam Hussein putting his missiles ... throughout Baghdad has resulted in this.”

In Zafaraniyah, residents described days of what appeared to be controlled blasts by American soldiers at the dump, apparently to destroy leftover Iraqi weaponry.

Mohammed Hussein said he and some neighbours had personally visited US military officers to stress that the depot was near crowded neighbourhoods.

After that, American forces stopped night explosions and ceased the daytime ones three or four days ago, Hussein and others said.

Many Iraqis in the area, though, contended that an intentional American blast had triggered the disaster.

“Why?” one distraught man demanded when three American soldiers went to look for missile parts in the shattered home.

Responded one American: “It’s not our fault.”