Bomber kills three in Iraqi

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A suicide bomber detonated a Chevrolet Caprice filled with explosives, mortars and rockets yesterday near the gates of a US base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing three, an Iraqi guard, a woman and a child, the military said.

US military spokeswoman, Captain Angela M Bowman, said three US soldiers and three Iraqi guards were also injured in the attack that occurred at 4h00. “A car loaded with explosives detonated 50 meters (yards) from the main gate of the Mosul airfield in southwestern Mosul,” Bowman said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.Bowman said the Caprice was loaded with 122 mm rockets and 60 mm mortars, which did not explode when the vehicle itself detonated.Initial military reports said the vehicle used was a pickup truck.U.S. bomb disposal experts were sent to defuse the unexploded munitions.Bowman said a woman and a child standing near the explosion were killed, as well as an Iraqi guard.Employees leaving the base, located at an airport converted into a U.S.military facility, said they saw the bomber drive a vehicle to the gates before it exploded.”The car exploded after breaking through the gate guarded by Americans and Iraqis and four cars were totally burned,” base employee Sami Omar told the AP.”I saw two people lying on the ground.””It was a suicide operation,” another employee, Imad Joseph, said.The car bombing was followed by mortar attacks on the base, witnesses told the AP, adding that at least five people were injured.The attack was the latest car bombing in Mosul since a series of June 24 vehicle-born explosions killed nearly 50 people died wounded dozens.The attacks were blamed on the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.- Nampa-AP”A car loaded with explosives detonated 50 meters (yards) from the main gate of the Mosul airfield in southwestern Mosul,” Bowman said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.Bowman said the Caprice was loaded with 122 mm rockets and 60 mm mortars, which did not explode when the vehicle itself detonated.Initial military reports said the vehicle used was a pickup truck.U.S. bomb disposal experts were sent to defuse the unexploded munitions.Bowman said a woman and a child standing near the explosion were killed, as well as an Iraqi guard.Employees leaving the base, located at an airport converted into a U.S.military facility, said they saw the bomber drive a vehicle to the gates before it exploded.”The car exploded after breaking through the gate guarded by Americans and Iraqis and four cars were totally burned,” base employee Sami Omar told the AP.”I saw two people lying on the ground.””It was a suicide operation,” another employee, Imad Joseph, said.The car bombing was followed by mortar attacks on the base, witnesses told the AP, adding that at least five people were injured.The attack was the latest car bombing in Mosul since a series of June 24 vehicle-born explosions killed nearly 50 people died wounded dozens.The attacks were blamed on the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.- Nampa-AP