IRAQ: Who Caused the Ammunition Dump Explosion in Baghdad That Killed 12 Iraqis and Injured 40?

What's the Truth?

Iraqi residents say it is the US Military's fault.

US Military Command denies and blames on "unknown attackers."

The US military blamed it on "unknown attackers " and says it is still investigating on the munition dump blast on Saturday. The Iraqi residents affected blamed the US military for the incident and was not convinced of the US military's explanation. Iraqis vented their anger at the US military in Baghdad.

Kudeir, a 30 year-old Iraqi worker, carries his badly burned nine-month-old son Amir Yas to safety in the Zaafaraniya neighborhood on the outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday after an arms dump blew up. (Reuters)

According to the report in The Observer, the tragedy occured to a community living around the Teachers' Houses area at around 8 in the morning. A Frog missile, stored by the US army for destruction, exploded in the midst of this small Iraqi community.

Six of the Haz al Sabr family living in the area were killed. At least 40 people were injured and another six also believed killed.

The missile had self-launched from the burning dump when its solid propellant caught fire. Shells and rocket-propelled grenades were thrown hundreds of metres through the air before hitting the ground and exploding. American soldiers couldn't venture into the ammunition dump for hours because thousands of rounds of rifle and machine gun ammunition kept exploding like popcorn.

The US Military Command issued this statement: "'An unknown number of individuals attacked. One soldier was wounded. During the attack, the assailant fired an unknown incendiary device into the cache, causing it to catch fire and explode. The explosion caused the destruction of the cache as well as a nearby building".


Captain Patrick Sullivan, from a US Army engineering unit said. " Hostile forces fired four flares into an ammunition storage area. One of the flares ignited an explosion and that set off a chain of explosions. "

In Qatar, U.S. Central Command spokesman Lt. Mark Kitchens placed blame squarely on what he called "the despicable people" who allegedly 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 weapons in the dump was part of the huge hauls of munitions that U.S. forces have been gathering from around Baghdad. In recent days, there have been controlled explosions at the same ammunition dump when U.S. force destroyed arms caches. Iraqis criticised US troops for storing munitions in a residential area, but the Army said it inherited the site from the Iraqis and had been trying to move weapons away from homes.

An Iraqi man argues with an U.S. soldier at a site of a blast at an arms depot near Zaafaraniya on the outskirts of Baghdad on April 26, 2003.(Reuters )

Colonel John Peabody denied any weapons had been demolished while they were guarding them. He said his unit had been guarding the ammunition dump for a week and that it 'had NOT destroyed any ammunition'. A claim challenged by almost every Iraqi resident in the affected area. The Iraqis living nearby did not buy the US Military 's version.

According to residents, the stockpile of weapons was kept behind a tall earth ridge just only 500 metres from their homes and according to them, the stockpile was being destroyed daily by the US Military. Iraqis claim that US forces had been destroying up to six missiles a day.

And when US Seargent Tom Grasso met with the residents aftet the tragedy, they told him that fragments had often fallen on their houses from a destruction site only 500m from their houses. They had feared that this might happen. And their worst fears were realized.


Naaman D'Nasser, an engineer who lives in the suburb, on the southern fringes of Baghdad, took reporters to a rooftop near his house to show other smaller missiles that had fallen broken on the community in the last few weeks.

He asked: "'We have had missiles like these smaller ones fall before. Why do they blow up things like this so close to where we live? We are Iraqis. But does that mean that we are not human as well?"

Angry residents briefly fired on U.S. troops trying to treat the injured and recover bodies from the rubble, driving them from the area for a short time. Residents blamed the U.S. military for not moving the dangerous material away from a populated area. Some angry Iraqis threw rocks at U.S. soldiers, as they tried to recover bodies.

''After this accident, no American soldiers will be safe,'' a group of young men shouted yesterday, near the spot where a missile crashed into the middle of a residential street between the houses of two neighbors, Khazal Suber Hassoon and Ali Naama Mohammed.

What angered residents even more was the attitude of US forces. After the blast, three US Humvee personnel carriers arrived to photograph the damage and and to take witness statements, lasting no more than 15 minutes. Sergeant Tom Grasso wanted more time to talk to residents, instead he was ordered back into his car by his superior, according to residents.

About 500 Iraqi men chanted anti-American and pro-Islam slogans. They drove out of the suburb in a convoy of trucks, buses and car - the first truck carrying the six coffins.

To quote Donald Rumsfeld. "Stuff happens !". So it was, with twelve innocent Iraqis killed.

  Go to Latest Posting

---

Comments 0

---