TAL AFAR, Iraq (Reuters) — A suicide car bomber wounded 58 U.S. soldiers and three Iraqis Tuesday when he charged the gates of an American military base and blew up his explosives-packed vehicle as troops opened fire.
In Baghdad, a blast hit a Sunni mosque after morning prayers, killing three Iraqis and raising the specter of further sectarian tension adding to instability in Iraq.
Near the flashpoint town of Falluja west of the capital, a U.S. Kiowa helicopter made an emergency landing after coming under fire, an American military spokeswoman said. A Reuters photographer saw the helicopter in flames in a field.
“Both crew walked away with minimal injuries,” the U.S. spokeswoman said.
The day of violence around Iraq began with the blast at the U.S. base in the northern town of Tal Afar shortly before dawn. The explosives-laden car blew a crater in the street and sent glass and debris flying over a wide area. “It was definitely a suicide bomb — there were pieces of the individual all over the compound,” said Col. Michael Linnington of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division.
Linnington said soldiers manning the gate at the camp 28 miles west of Mosul opened fire after the driver charged toward them, ignoring orders to stop.
“The soldiers hit the driver several times, causing him to detonate the bomb prematurely,” Linnington said. “He was definitely trying to get through the gate and into the camp.”
Most of the 58 soldiers injured suffered cuts, bruises and broken bones, the military said, but four were more seriously wounded and were evacuated to a military hospital.
An Iraqi translator at the base was also wounded, and two Iraqis in the town were hospitalized with cuts, a doctor said.
The U.S. Army said there was also a suicide attack at an American field hospital north of Baghdad. An officer at the hospital said some soldiers were slightly wounded when a man approached, acting as if he was wounded, and detonated a device apparently strapped to his back.
“All that remained was the head, the hands and the legs,” the officer said.
Since Washington launched the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein in March, 308 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action, 193 of them since President Bush declared major combat over at the beginning of May.
The violence has also spread to coalition members and among Iraqi groups vying for position in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.
In Baghdad, Iraqi police said explosives placed under a car parked in the grounds of a Sunni mosque were detonated shortly after morning prayers, killing three people and wounding one.
Some witnesses said they thought the blast was caused by a rocket-propelled grenade rather than a bomb.
As they poked through the wreckage, residents called the incident part of a pattern of intimidation by Shi’ites, who make up 60 percent of Iraq’s population and whose leaders have largely opted to work with the country’s U.S. occupiers.
“We are pointing the finger of accusation at the Shi’ites for this act,” said Sheikh Ahmad Dabbash, who leads prayers at the Ahbab al-Mustafa mosque and linked the blast to previous attacks on Sunni mosques in the capital.
In a show of support for the U.S.-led coalition, Japan’s cabinet approved a plan Tuesday to send non-combat troops to Iraq, despite strong voter opposition.
Japan’s landmark decision, less than two weeks after the killing of two Japanese diplomats in Iraq, clears the way for what could be the biggest and most dangerous overseas mission by Japan’s military since World War II.
The plan allows for the dispatch of up to 600 army personnel at any time during a one-year period starting December 15. It does not set a specific date when they will actually be sent.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, explaining the decision at a news conference in Tokyo, said: “They will not exercise military force; they are not going there to stage war.”
