Big explosion rocks downtown Baghdad

[karlschneider]

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20030919/D7TLJMS00.html?PG=home&SEC=news

not much info yet

[wellst0nev0ter]

1. Is This Our Somalia Moment Or Our Beirut Moment (eom)

[sistersofmercy]

4. Depends on info but mostly Beirut.

[karlschneider]

9. CNN just now reporting TWO explosions, 2nd in Al Mansur (sp?) dist.

Short report

[Cappurr]

2. Hmmm maybe not much info

But it did say the Palestine holtel where all the journalists stay and the Martyrs Circle where US soldiers Staty. I'd keep a cloe eye on this one

[karlschneider]

3. No mention on CNN or MSNBC tv yet. Weird.

:eyes:

[Syrinx]

5. They've been talking about it a little on msnbc

They said it wasn't AT the hotel, just nearby. No real details yet.

[Ripley]

6. I'm sure it's just another raid and someone knocked over a Weber

grill and the smoke got out of hand. :grr:

[JHB]

8. The ABC blurb says:

the explosion shook the Palestine hotel, and a smoke cloud was seen rising from the direction of Martyr's Square where the US maintainas a base.

Pretty much the same, but it's clearer about where the explosion seems to have come from.

[Rollins]

7. MSNBC only says it was felt at the Palestine Hotel

Maybe it was near a US military base which is near by.

[tedzbear]

10. No details yet...

...on casualties if any. Also, central command has said nothing about the possibly 8 US soldiers killed outside Bagdad yesterday. Maybe they weren't killed but just burned (horrible in itself).

[Syrinx]

11. no injuries

booby trap went off prematurely

[sspiderjohn]

15. thank god -- let's take this as a warning and get our boys out of there

Or we will continue this ludicrous Iraqi policy until hundreds of our boys ARE killed . . . . .

[Karenina]

19. HUNDREDS of our boys AND girls

have already "officially" been killed and if you include those who subsequently die from injuries, contract mysterious ailments, are poisoned by vaccines, succumb to dehydration, commit suicide, get fragged, electrocuted or otherwise meet their maker (those numbers are of course classified for "national security" reasons) we may well be talking about THOUSANDS. Never mind those who are quietly shipped back to the U.S. with life-altering physical and psychic wounds, whose families are devastated, whose health care and support systems have been eviscerated... I'm ranting. Are you following my train wreck of thought here? :shrug:

[Snoopy2]

12. CNN just said there were 2 explosions

One by the square and another by a stadium. They had a map up but did not show where the explosions came from.

[Fridays Child]

13. Does anyone know why the webcams at the Palestine Hotel were...

...turned off? The last time I remember them being on was in early April. The journalists still give their reports from the exact same spot, and those cameras were being used for both purposes. But it seems that the continuous webcam coverage was just suddenly cut off, and I've always suspected that the "Ministry of Truth" had something to do with it.

[MoonAndSun]

14. latest from the BBC -

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3124160.stm>


<snip> "It is not clear what caused the blast but witnesses say it appears to have been a roadside bomb.

They say there are scorch marks on the road but that no vehicle has been damaged.

Coalition troops and Iraqi police are now at the scene."




hopefully more will be coming in soon.

[Ripley]

16. Roadside bomb blew out windshield of taxi.

No one injured....sorry I forgot where I saw that...

[Barrett808]

17. MSNBC: Booby trap misfires in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 19 — A booby trap set up along a roadway near a U.S. base in central Baghdad exploded prematurely Friday night, creating a loud blast but injuring no one, NBC News reported.

THE EXPLOSION kicked up a large cloud of smoke and dust near Martyrs’ Square, where the U.S. military maintains a base. It shook the Palestine Hotel, about 2½ miles away, and could be felt and heard in the NBC News bureau several miles away.

An Iraqi fire engine sprayed water onto a steaming crater beside a main road near the Tigris River in Baghdad. Several police and U.S. soldiers were on the scene and tried to keep crowds of Iraqis away.

NBC News’ Jim Avila reported that the device appeared to be a homemade bomb that exploded prematurely. A taxi, which had been driving past, had its windshield shattered, but the driver said he had not been hurt.

No one was reported injured at the time in the explosion, which occurred about 9 p.m. (1 p.m. ET), only an hour before Baghdad falls under an overnight curfew.

(more)

http://www.msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?cp1=1

[dArKeR]

18. Look at the windshield pic on this link. The bullets didn't pierce.