23 killed in car bomb blast

A car bomb exploded outside the main gate to the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition today, killing 23 people, including two Americans who may have been civilian contractors, U.S. officials said.

A suicide driver today detonated a powerful car bomb outside the main gate to the headquarters compound of the US-led coalition in Baghdad, killing 23 people, including two civilians working for the US Department of Defence, and injuring dozens of others, US officials said.

At least 28 people, including six Americans, were injured in the blast, US officials said.

It happened at about 8am (local time) in dense, morning mist near the “Assassin’s Gate” to Saddam Hussein’s former Republican Palace complex, now used by the U.S.-led occupation authority for headquarters.

It was the deadliest single attack in Iraq since Saddam was captured on December 13 near his hometown of Tikrit.

Seventeen people were killed in a suicide bombing in Khaldiyah west of Baghdad the day after Saddam was arrested.

The Assassin’s Gate is used by hundreds of Iraqis employed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the formal name of the US-led occupation authorities, as well as US military vehicles.

The US military press office said the 18 dead included 16 Iraqi civilians and two American civilians.

The 28 injured included 22 Iraqi civilians, four civilians working for the Defense Department and two US soldiers, the press office said.

The military initially identified the Defence Department victims as Americans but later said the nationalities were uncertain. A spokesman said it was unclear if they were DOD staff or civilian contractors.

There were conflicting reports about whether one or two vehicles were involved in the attack.

Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling, deputy commander of the 1st Armoured Division, said the blast was caused by a car bomb with one driver in the vehicle.

“About 8 o’clock this morning a car attempted to enter through that entrance, exploded at the outside part of the security barriers,” Hertling told CNN International. “It certainly was a vehicle-borne bomb, suicide bomb. There was evidently someone in the car.”

Hertling told The Associated Press that the blast occurred ”literally at the last point a vehicle could get to without being stopped. The barriers absorbed most of the blast.”

A witness, Salah Farhan, said he was accompanying colleagues through the checkpoint when he saw a Land Cruiser try to jump to the head of the line. It exploded about two cars back from the gate, he said.

US troops guarding the gate took cover when they saw the vehicle try to move to the front of the line.

However, another witness, Hamid Hawwam, said two cars exploded at the gate, and one of them flew into the air.

The area is one of the most heavily guarded in the capital. US soldiers guarding the gate usually stand about 20 yards from the road behind coils of barbed wire and concrete barriers. Iraqi witnesses said one, possibly two, Land Cruisers attempted to enter the gate when they exploded.

US administrator L. Paul Bremer, who is in the United States for talks with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, called the bombing “another clear indication of the murderous and cynical intent of terrorists to undermine freedom, democracy and progress in Iraq. They will not succeed.”

“Once again, it is innocent Iraqis who have been murdered by these terrorists in a senseless act of violence,” Bremer said in a statement.

“Our determination to work for a stable and democratic future for this country is undiminished.”

Karar Abbas, an Iraqi civil defence trooper, said the blast engulfed seven cars parked along the street.

Mohammed Jabbar, who works at the Ministry of Planning, said he was waiting to pass through the security checkpoint when the blast occurred.

“When the explosion went off, it was very strong,” he said. “It lifted us into the air. People fell on top of one another.”

Nabil Abdul Zahar said a friend standing with him in line for security checks was killed.

“My friend was standing behind me in the line when the explosion happened,” a shaken Zahar said. “There were lots of injured. I went to check on him. I saw his throat cut. I called for help and no one came to help me. He died right there on the ground.”