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04-12-2007, 12:48 PM
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The suicide attack in Iraq's parliament building on Thursday killed eight people, including two Iraqi lawmakers, and wounded 20, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
After the attack in the building's cafeteria, more explosives were found near the parliament room and were destroyed in a controlled detonation, according to Iraqi lawmaker Iman al-Asadi.
It is unclear how the bomber was able to pass through the multiple security checkpoints required to enter the parliament building, which is in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
The Associated Press, citing Mohammed Abu Bakr, the parliament's media relations chief, said some security procedures had changed earlier in the day at a Green Zone entrance near the parliament building.
The entrance's security scanner was not working, Abu Bakr told the AP, and pedestrians entering the zone were subject to hand searches and passed through metal detectors, he said.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said that based on "the trends" of the attack, al Qaeda in Iraq is believed to be responsible for the bombing, although he stressed an investigation is under way.
The dead include at least two lawmakers, a Sunni and a Shiite, according to Muhanned Jabbar, an official with the office of Iraq's speaker of parliament.
The Shiite lawmaker's identity has not been released. Jabbar identified the Sunni as Mohammed Hassan Awadh, a member of the National Dialogue bloc.
The bloc, which holds 11 parliament seats, is headed by Salih al-Mutlag, a secular Sunni lawmaker who opposes the more powerful Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Accord Front, which holds 44 seats in parliament.
At least three lawmakers are among the wounded, according to Jabbar.
The parliamentary speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, has called for an emergency session on Friday at 11 a.m. to show that lawmakers will not be deterred by the attack, Jabbar said.
The explosion happened around 2:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. ET) as parliament members headed to the cafeteria following Thursday's session, al-Asadi said. Al-Asadi said she did not go to the cafeteria and headed to the legal department, where she heard a loud explosion from inside the restaurant.
Lawmakers and everyone inside the building -- which once served as Baghdad's convention center -- were immediately put in lockdown as a precaution following the explosion.
In addition to parliament, the center also houses Iraqi government offices.
There were no American casualties in the blast, according to U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington.
The Green Zone, a four-square-mile area in Baghdad, is the seat of the U.S. military and U.S. diplomatic agencies, as well as the site of the Iraqi government and parliament. It is also known as the International Zone.
Security inside the Green Zone has been compromised in recent weeks, prompting the U.S. Defense Department to recently require all personnel to wear body armor and helmets when outside buildings in the Green Zone, a source there said.
On March 22, two mortar rounds struck inside the Green Zone during a live news conference, causing visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to duck in surprise.
On March 27, a U.S. soldier and American contractor were killed and five people were wounded when a rocket landed in the Green Zone.
Two unexploded suicide vests were found inside the Green Zone on March 31.
Truck bomb brings down bridge
A suicide truck bomb exploded on a major bridge in northern Baghdad Thursday morning, sending cars into the Tigris River and killing at least 10 people and wounding 26 others, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official..
Video of the scene showed two large sections in the middle of al-Sarafiya bridge collapsed into the river.
The al-Sarafiya bridge connected the predominantly Sunni Adhamiya neighborhood and Bab al-Muadham, a mixed district.
The iron bridge, one of Baghdad's oldest, was built by British forces in 1946.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/04/12/iraq.main/index.html
After the attack in the building's cafeteria, more explosives were found near the parliament room and were destroyed in a controlled detonation, according to Iraqi lawmaker Iman al-Asadi.
It is unclear how the bomber was able to pass through the multiple security checkpoints required to enter the parliament building, which is in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
The Associated Press, citing Mohammed Abu Bakr, the parliament's media relations chief, said some security procedures had changed earlier in the day at a Green Zone entrance near the parliament building.
The entrance's security scanner was not working, Abu Bakr told the AP, and pedestrians entering the zone were subject to hand searches and passed through metal detectors, he said.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said that based on "the trends" of the attack, al Qaeda in Iraq is believed to be responsible for the bombing, although he stressed an investigation is under way.
The dead include at least two lawmakers, a Sunni and a Shiite, according to Muhanned Jabbar, an official with the office of Iraq's speaker of parliament.
The Shiite lawmaker's identity has not been released. Jabbar identified the Sunni as Mohammed Hassan Awadh, a member of the National Dialogue bloc.
The bloc, which holds 11 parliament seats, is headed by Salih al-Mutlag, a secular Sunni lawmaker who opposes the more powerful Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Accord Front, which holds 44 seats in parliament.
At least three lawmakers are among the wounded, according to Jabbar.
The parliamentary speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, has called for an emergency session on Friday at 11 a.m. to show that lawmakers will not be deterred by the attack, Jabbar said.
The explosion happened around 2:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. ET) as parliament members headed to the cafeteria following Thursday's session, al-Asadi said. Al-Asadi said she did not go to the cafeteria and headed to the legal department, where she heard a loud explosion from inside the restaurant.
Lawmakers and everyone inside the building -- which once served as Baghdad's convention center -- were immediately put in lockdown as a precaution following the explosion.
In addition to parliament, the center also houses Iraqi government offices.
There were no American casualties in the blast, according to U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington.
The Green Zone, a four-square-mile area in Baghdad, is the seat of the U.S. military and U.S. diplomatic agencies, as well as the site of the Iraqi government and parliament. It is also known as the International Zone.
Security inside the Green Zone has been compromised in recent weeks, prompting the U.S. Defense Department to recently require all personnel to wear body armor and helmets when outside buildings in the Green Zone, a source there said.
On March 22, two mortar rounds struck inside the Green Zone during a live news conference, causing visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to duck in surprise.
On March 27, a U.S. soldier and American contractor were killed and five people were wounded when a rocket landed in the Green Zone.
Two unexploded suicide vests were found inside the Green Zone on March 31.
Truck bomb brings down bridge
A suicide truck bomb exploded on a major bridge in northern Baghdad Thursday morning, sending cars into the Tigris River and killing at least 10 people and wounding 26 others, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official..
Video of the scene showed two large sections in the middle of al-Sarafiya bridge collapsed into the river.
The al-Sarafiya bridge connected the predominantly Sunni Adhamiya neighborhood and Bab al-Muadham, a mixed district.
The iron bridge, one of Baghdad's oldest, was built by British forces in 1946.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/04/12/iraq.main/index.html