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WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2005 – A series of car bombs rocked Baghdad, Iraq, over the past 48 hours, killing a U.S. soldier and dozens of Iraqi soldiers and innocent civilians, military officials there reported today.
The soldier, assigned to Task Force Baghdad, was killed Jan. 18 when an improvised explosive device detonated at about 8:25 a.m. The name of the soldier is being withheld pending the notification of next of kin. As many as 26 people died in a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital this morning when four car bombs were detonated in the span of 90 minutes. At least 21 people were wounded in the attacks. At about 7 a.m. a car bomb exploded near the Australian Embassy, killing two Iraqis and wounding two Australian soldiers. Several Iraqi citizens were wounded as well. Thirty minutes later, a second car bomb near the Al Alahi Hospital in central Baghdad killed 18 Iraqi citizens, including five Iraqi police; 15 Iraqis were wounded. At about 8:15 a.m., a third car bomb, this time southwest of the Baghdad International Airport, killed two Iraqi security guards and injured three others. One Task Force Baghdad soldier also was wounded. Despite loss of life, a spokesman with the 1st Cavalry Division said that none of the suicide bombers hit their intended targets. "All of these car bombers were stopped by security forces before they could reach their intended targets," said Army Lt. Col. James Hutton, the division's public affairs officer. "While the any loss of life is tragic, it could have been a lot worse." Military officials said the incidents are under investigation. (Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)
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