U.S.: Baghdad Blasts Kill Four Americans

WASHINGTON - Four Americans killed in bombings in the Green Zone in Baghdad on Thursday were all employees of the private U.S. security firm DynCorp, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Two State Department officials were injured, neither critically, along with another employee of the company, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The firm, Dyncorp, helps provide security primarily in areas where Americans work in the Iraqi capital.

A spokesman for Computer Services Corp., the parent company, had no immediate comment.

The fact that insurgents were able to penetrate Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone that contained U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters was a serious setback to the Bush administration's campaign to pacify postwar Iraq.

Only Wednesday night, in a Washington speech, Secretary of State Colin Powell said "we are facing a difficult time in Iraq." He called the insurgents monsters but expressed confidence the U.S.-led coalition would gradually gain the upper hand.

Overall, Powell spoke optimistically of President Bush's declared global war against terror. "Every day terrorists have fewer places to hide," he said.

A top Iraqi official said the attacks appeared to have been a "suicide operation." If so, it would be the first time insurgents have successfully infiltrated and set off bombs in the heart of the U.S.-Iraqi leadership of the country.

Tawhid and Jihad, the militant group of Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the blasts, saying they were "martyrdom" or suicide attacks.

Blasts Kill Five in Baghdad's Green Zone

By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents penetrated Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and detonated explosives at a market and a popular cafe Thursday, killing five people, including four Americans, in the first bombings inside the compound housing the U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters.

A top Iraqi official said the attacks appeared to have been suicide bombings.

Witnesses said two men, each carrying a backpack but not required ID badges, entered the Green Zone Cafe full of Americans and other patrons at around lunchtime, drank tea and talked to each other for nearly half an hour — one of them appearing to reassure his more nervous colleague.

One of them then left and soon after an explosion was heard, then the man who remained in the cafe detonated his bomb moments later, ripping through the building, said an Iraqi vendor who was in the cafe at the time.

The attack was a bold assault on the heart of the U.S.-Iraqi leadership of the country and a serious setback to the Bush administration's campaign to pacify postwar Iraq.

Tawhid and Jihad, the militant group of Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the blasts, saying they were "martyrdom" or suicide attacks.

Also Thursday, two U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad, one in a roadside bombing in the morning and the second in a shooting in the afternoon, the military said. As of Wednesday, 1,081 U.S. servicemen had been killed in Iraq since March 2003, according to a Defense Department count.

The Green Zone, a district of former Saddam Hussein palaces in a bend of the Tigris River, was set up under the U.S. occupation to house Americans involved in the administration. It came to resemble a suburban "Little America" in central Baghdad — with green lawns, restaurants, American television, U.S. area codes, even at least one swimming pool set up behind barricades and multiple checkpoints.

Since the June handover of sovereignty, the Iraqi government has set up its offices there, but hundreds of Americans remain as part of the U.S. Embassy. In the increasing violence of recent months, the American civilians rarely leave the Green Zone. Around 10,000 Iraqis also live within the four square-mile zone, residents of the apartment buildings that had to be included within the perimeter. They need IDs to move in and out of the area.

Thursday's attack raised fears over security in the compound and underscored militants' ability to strike in the capital even as U.S.-Iraqi forces are carrying out a new offensive to suppress them in other parts of the country ahead of January elections.

Insurgents have frequently fired mortar rounds at the compound, and there have been a number of deadly car bombings at its gates. But this was the first time a bomb was successfully brought in and detonated.

One bomb ripped through an outdoor bazaar that caters to Westerners, selling everything from mobile phone accessories to pornographic DVDs.

The second blast took place at the Green Zone Cafe. Witnesses said around 20 other patrons were in the cafe at the time, about half of them American. Last week, an improvised bomb was found and safely defused at the same cafe.

A U.S. military statement said the bombs were "hand-carried" into the zone and that five people were killed in the blasts and 20 people wounded, including one U.S. soldier, an American airman and two U.S. civilians, the statement said.

U.S. officials in Washington said the four Americans killed in the blasts were employees of the private U.S. security firm DynCorp. The officials said two State Department officials and another DynCorp employee were among the wounded.

Iraq's national security adviser Qassem Dawoud said "initial information" indicated the attacks were suicide bombings. "This cowardly act will not go unpunished," he told a news briefing at the Green Zone. "We will strike them wherever they are."

After the blasts, the U.S. Embassy "strongly encouraged" Americans in the Green Zone to avoid the bazaar and restaurants inside the compound, limit their movements, travel in groups and carry several means of communication.

An Iraqi vendor who was in the cafe at the time of the blast said the two men believed to be the bombers "walked into the restaurant carrying two large handbags."

One of the men appeared shaken and nervous and the other appeared to be "reassuring him to do something, but we could not hear what it was," said the Iraqi, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared it becoming known he works in the Green Zone.

He said he and another companion attempted to inquire about the two men when they started suspecting them. The waiter who took the men's orders said they spoke in a Jordanian accent.

One of the men left the building, took a taxi and a couple of minutes later "we heard a loud boom."

"It was then that the second bomber blew himself up," the witness said, struggling to hear the questions after the explosion had marred his hearing. "I fell on the floor, then quickly gathered myself and ran for my life."

Mohammed al-Obeidi, the owner of a nearby restaurant who was wounded by flying glass from the cafe blast, said security in the zone has weakened since Iraqi police took a greater role with the June handover of power.

"Before it was really safe. They (the Americans) passed it over to the Iraqis ... the Iraqi Police. When they see someone they know, it's just, 'Go on in.' They don't understand it's for our safety," al-Obeidi said.

The Tawhid and Jihad group, led by the Jordanian al-Zarqawi, has claimed a series of bloody bombings across the country as well as the kidnapping and beheading of a number of foreign hostages — including three Americans.

Another group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army posted a video Thursday on the Web showing the beheading of a man identified as a Turkish driver.

More than 150 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since the insurgency began.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up military operations in Sunni militant strongholds across a wide swathe of territory north and west of Baghdad on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which last year saw a surge in rebel attacks.

U.S. warplanes on Thursday struck at least three sites in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah that the command said were being used by followers of al-Zarqawi. At least five people were killed and 16 wounded in all, according to Fallujah General Hospital.

Security Review Follows Baghdad Blasts

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON - Deadly bombings in Baghdad's Green Zone have touched off a U.S. security review and a search for evidence to determine if terrorists linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi carried out the attacks.

Two bombers penetrated the tightly guarded area of the Iraqi capital and struck at a bazaar close to the U.S. Embassy annex and at a cafe. Witnesses said both carried backpacks and spent considerable time sipping tea in a cafe before striking.

Four employees of the private U.S. security firm DynCorp were killed and a fifth wounded. Three State Department workers were injured. At least six Iraqis died.

Condemning the bombings and extending sympathies to the families of the victims, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday, "Our people who go out (to Iraq) know that they are serving in dangerous circumstances."

But, he said, "It's obviously very sad and unfortunate when something happens to them or to the Iraqis who are working with them in the Green Zone and elsewhere in the country."

Americans and Iraqis working at the embassy were instructed to remain inside the complex indefinitely. Boucher said an investigation and security sweeps were under way.

Two other U.S. officials said the contract workers were from DynCorp, which assists in trying to protect U.S. facilities. Mike Dickerson, a spokesman for Computer Services Corp., DynCorp's parent company, said three employees had been killed and a fourth was missing. Their identities were not being released pending notification of their families.

Security arrangements were put under immediate review. Boucher said it is "much too early to start speculating" about possible changes.

"Every time there is an incident like this we automatically look for what we can do to improve security for everybody who lives and works in these areas," Boucher said.

Tawhid and Jihad, al-Zarqawi's militant group, claimed responsibility for the blasts.

It was the first time a bomb was set off within the Green Zone. In the past, there have been rocket attacks from beyond the perimeter. Also, an explosive device was found in the zone recently.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a speech Wednesday night in Washington, spoke of "facing a difficult time in Iraq" while expressing confidence that the U.S.-led coalition gradually would gain the upper hand.

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