Two die in Baghdad truck explosion
A truck exploded near the Australian Embassy in central Baghdad today, killing two people and wounding four, police and witnesses said.
A second car bomb exploded about a half hour later at a police station, killing six, officials said.
A third, smaller explosion was heard and smoke was seen rising near the Green Zone, the heavily fortified compound housing the US Embassy and Iraq’s interim government offices.
The truck bomb exploded near the embassy’s cement blast barriers around 7am (4am Irish time) in a blast that rocked the centre of the city. US troops and tanks sealed off the area, which was strewn with flaming wreckage.
An Iraqi guard at the nearby Australian ambassador’s residence said a man drove a truck cab, without a trailer, to the cement barriers in front of the embassy, then fled in another car that was waiting for him.
The truck cab then exploded, said the guard, who only identified himself as Hassan.
He said it appeared a new contingent of Australian soldiers guarding the embassy was not aware that vehicles were prohibited from parking that close to the building.
In Australia, a spokeswoman at the Department of Foreign Affairs said no Australian diplomatic staff or soldiers were injured.
“All embassy and ADF (Australian Defence Force) staff have been accounted for and no Australian personnel have been injured,” the spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said the force of the blast blew out the windows of embassy staff accommodation but no damage had been done to the embassy, she said.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said two people were killed and four were wounded. He didn’t know the nationalities of the victims.
The embassy is located in Baghdad’s central Jadriyah neighbourhood.
The blast destroyed the vehicle and left its twisted wreckage in flames. A US military helicopter circled overhead.
About a half hour later, a second blast sent a column of black smoke rising above the eastern part of the city.
The second blast was caused by a car bomb that targeted a police station in Baghdad’s eastern Elwiyah neighbourhood, killing six people and wounding several others, the Interior Ministry official said.
The remains of a smouldering car sat outside the station’s security barricade.
