Monday, October 24, 2005
TERRORISTS ATTACK JOURNALIST BASE
AP reports:
At least two enormous bombs, including a cement-mixing truck packed with explosives, blew up outside the Palestine Hotel — home to many foreign journalists — killing 11 people and wounding 13, Iraqi police said.
One of the bombs appeared to have gone off at an Iraqi police checkpoint on the northeast side of Firdous Square adjacent to the hotel compound.
Two journalists were killed in 2003 when US troops, believing they’d spotted an Iraqi forward artillery observer, fired on the Palestine Hotel. A Spanish judge subsequently issued arrest warrants for three US soldiers.
(Via Larry Tomasson)
Police now say 17 people are dead after three enormous bombs went off near an Iraqi police post outside the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said the dead include Iraqi police and civilians.
The hotel serves as a base for a lot of the foreign journalists in Iraq. Police and journalists said there’s heavy damage to the hotel. TV pictures show a huge cloud of smoke rising from the scene, and debris falling from the building.