rigorousintuition.ca

[AlicetheKurious]

Truck bomb destroys major Baghdad bridge

A suicide truck bomb killed at least ten people on a major bridge in Baghdad this morning, wrecking the structure and sending several cars plunging into the river Tigris below.

...

The al-Sarafiya bridge was severely damaged in two places by this morning's pre-rush hour explosion, which collapsed the steel girders of one of the main crossing points in the northern half of Baghdad.

Iraqi authorities said that at least 26 people had been injured in the explosion but there were fears that the death toll could rise as police and dive teams searched the muddy waters of the Tigris for fallen vehicles and as many as 20 people who are thought to have been thrown off the bridge.

Witnesses reported that the bomb-laden lorry had parked in the middle of the structure before blowing up but there was speculation that explosives had also been set elsewhere on the bridge because it appeared to have been broken in two places.

"A huge explosion shook our house and I thought it would demolish our house. Me and my wife jumped immediately from our bed, grabbed our three kids and took them outside," said Farhan al-Sudani, a 34-year-old Shia businessman who lives near the bridge.

Reports said sections of the bridge had been reduced to crumbled concrete pilings and twisted metal. "We were astonished more when we saw the extent of damage," said Ahmed Abdul-Karim, a local resident. "I was standing in my garden and I saw the smoke and flying debris."

"It is one of Baghdad’s monuments. This is really damaging for Iraq. We are losing a lot of our history every day," he said.

The al-Sarafiya bridge is one of nine crossing points over the Tigris in Baghdad, but had gained a reputation as one of the safest ways to move around the north of the city because it connects Waziriyah and Utafiyah, two relatively stable neighbourhoods. Two of Baghdad's other bridges have already been closed for security reasons.

Designed by British engineers and built in 1949 by Holloway Bros, a London-based construction firm, the al-Sarafiya bridge was Baghdad's railway crossing over the Tigris and helped connect Basra to northern Iraq. It ceased to carry trains in the 1970s to make more room for cars but remains one of the most recognisable structures in the Iraqi capital.

"This bridge is linked to Baghdad’s modern history. It is one of our famous monuments," Haider Ghazala, an Iraqi architect told the AP. "Attacking this bridge effects the morale of Iraqis and especially Baghdad residents who feel proud of this bridge."

"They want to demolish everything that connects the people with this land," he said.

Residents of Baghdad said that the closure of the bridge would further complicate their attempts to move around the city, which is littered with army, police and militia roadblocks and currently the subject of a massive combined US and Iraqi attempt to control the endemic violence.

The Tigris, which winds through Baghdad, has become a de facto barrier between the mostly Shia east and Sunni west of the city, a division that has become sharper after months of sectarian warfare and the fleeing of thousands of people from formerly mixed neighbourhoods. There have been rumours for months of a bombing campaign to bring down the bridges.

...Operation Law and Order is credited with reducing the death toll in Baghdad since it began in mid-February, but there has been a concurrent increase in violence and sectarian killings outside the capital as insurgents and militia groups are reported to target their victims elsewhere.

Today the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, repeated his assertion that sectarian violence in Iraq was now virtually over. He told an audience of South Korean business leaders that recent attacks in the country were mainly the work of al-Qaeda and former Baath party members seeking a return to power.

The Iraqi Prime Minister, who is in South Korea and Japan trying to gather support for reconstruction work in the country, said he welcomed foreign investors with "open arms".

"Because of its abundance in resources such as oil and gas, Iraq has a great potential to become an advanced country," he said. "However, it is true that reconstruction is being delayed and all facilities are in ruins. But the Iraqi people are making utmost efforts to rise from the ashes."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1643538.ece



Watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV9PPeitIcY&feature=related





U.S. soldiers secure the area at Baghdad's collapsed Al-Sarafiya bridge which was destroyed in a suicide truck bombing April 12, 2007


Iraq: US blames Al-Qaeda for its own actions


Global Research, January 22, 2008
Press TV (Iran)



Baghdad's al-Sarafiya Bridge allegedly blown up by remote-controlled explosives, was in fact destroyed by a US warplane, a new report says.

A video taken on a cellphone indicates that a US F-16 dropped a 'five-hundred-pounder' on the bridge in April.

"We're dropping a five [...] hundred pound bomb on that [...] house over there. Yeah," says an unknown man on the recording with a clear American accent.

"We got a F-16, we got a [...] M1 Abrams over there," the man continues.

"Ten second impact! Get down and plug your ears," another unidentified man says.

As the video continues, the audio suggests that a jetfighter entering the area drops the bomb on the bridge.

The bridge, which connected two Shia and Sunni neighborhoods on the banks of the Tigris River, goes down after the impact; victory celebration follows.

As the bridge partially collapsed at least 10 people were killed and 26 were injured, leaving some 20 people trapped in their cars.

After the incident, the US military falsely claimed that the al-Qaeda had taken responsibility for the destruction of the bridge.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7871
_________________
You know. Don't say you don't know.
I Am Israel

[Nordic]

I sure don't see any fighter jets in that cell phone video. All I see is a bridge blowing up. Any audio could have been added later.

Not that I wouldn't doubt the allegations here, but I don't see any proof.

[KeenInsight]

Apparently 500 lb bombs are "fucking sweet." Yep, killing people is very awesome.

[vigilant]

Suicide bombing was designed to kill people in crowded market places, not blow up structures.

When you want to blow up a structure like a bridge, you plant explosives on the structure.

I'm skeptical of this....to say the least.
_________________
The whole world is a stage...will somebody turn the lights on please?....I have to go bang my head against the wall for a while and assimilate....

[AlicetheKurious]

Just like the bombing of Al-Askari shrine, Al-sarafiya bridge witnessed strange events hours before the bombing.

Iraqirabita quoting an eyewitness lives in Al-Atafiya – western side of the river says she woke up 07,10 this morning because of the unusual sounds of Americans helicopters above the river Tigris.

I thought that this a beginning of an raid in our neighborhood, to be sure I went upstairs to see where are these helicopters are heading to.

I saw with my own eyes a helicopter firing two missiles, I heard an explosion, then I saw the bridge collapsed.

Another report says…..It is interesting to note this morning Iraqi police blocked the traffic on the bridge for more than two hours, shortly before the explosion they allowed civilians cars to cross the river, which confirms that there is an orchestrated destruction of Al-Sarafiya bridge and resumption of movement by the time of the bombing was to cover up the actions of the “bombers”.

Link
_________________
You know. Don't say you don't know.
I Am Israel

[Stephen Morgan]

Never forget, explosions, like water, take the course of least resistance; i.e., not through solid structures.
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We had our first child on the NHS, and had to wait nine months. Can you believe it? -- Hugh Laurie

[AlicetheKurious]

Also, note that the article I posted is from Iranian tv. It appears the Iranians are not impressed with the 'al Qaeda' schtick, any more than the Iraqis. They know who their enemy is.
_________________
You know. Don't say you don't know.
I Am Israel

[Hugh Manatee Wins]