Bomb at crowded Baghdad restaurant kills at least five

BAGHDAD - A powerful bomb tore apart an upscale Baghdad restaurant crowded with New Year revellers overnight, killing at least five people and leaving many still trapped in the rubble, Iraqi police said.

Police initially said explosives were probably carried into the Nabil restaurant in the Arasat district of Baghdad by a suicide bomber, but later said they suspected a car bomb.

Much of the restaurant building as well as a nearby house were destroyed and the restaurant was in flames. Witnesses said dozens of people had been inside when the bomb went off.

Officials in the emergency ward of the nearby Ibn al-Nafis hospital said more than 20 people had been wounded, including at least three foreigners who they believed were British or American.

Witnesses said the wounded foreigners were Western journalists who had been eating at the restaurant.

US helicopters circled overhead and a stream of ambulances raced to the scene. US troops and Iraqi rescuers were clawing through the rubble looking for survivors.

Gutted cars were scattered across the road.

The restaurant, in one of Baghdad's most upmarket districts, is frequented by wealthy Iraqis and is popular with foreigners. A New Year party was under way when the bomb struck, and the restaurant guests were all smartly dressed, witnesses said.

US-backed security forces had increased patrols in the capital because of fears that insurgents could choose the New Year period to launch attacks on coalition forces.

Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, the commander of the 1st Armoured Division responsible for the capital, told reporters earlier on Wednesday his men would be on high alert for potential attacks over New Year after a series of assaults on Christmas Day.

"We always take a posture of extra vigilance on key dates in the calendar," he said. "We have gathered intelligence on what could happen over the next 72 hours...and you can be sure the 1st AD will be ready to do what it gets paid to do."

Occupying troops, foreign organisations and Iraqis cooperating with the occupation have been targeted by a string of suicide bomb attacks since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April.

The US military blames pro-Saddam loyalists, probably aided by foreign Muslim militants.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq