Yesterday's violent incident in Mosul would seem to be an inside job by infiltrators.
An explosion tore through a crowded U.S. military mess tent in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 70. U.S. military officials updated the casualty toll early today, saying that 14 of the dead were U.S. soldiers, and most of the casualties were Americans who had just sat down to lunch.It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. military installation in the 21 months since the war in Iraq began.
The explosion, which came at noon, was at first believed to be caused by a mortar round or rocket that pierced the white canvas tent that serves as mess hall at Forward Operating Base Marez, near the Mosul airport.
But in an online assertion of responsibility for the attack, a radical Muslim group described "a suicide operation." Military officials said the cause of the blast was under investigation, and some security experts said the extent of injuries indicated that it was possible a bomb had been planted inside the hall.
One shot by a rocket with such deadly timing and accuracy would seem highly unlikely -- the enemy is just not that good at targeting. Other bombardments have included multiple rounds, sometimes with deadly effect but requiring an element of luck.
As Army investigators picked through the mess hall for clues to the origin of the blast, the looming question was whether insurgents had been able to smuggle a powerful explosive onto the base, or if an insurgent mortar crew had managed an accurate shot.Mortar rounds fall frequently on the post -- sometimes a half-dozen a day. This week, one insurgent group, the al Mustafa Brigade, boasted of firing 15 60mm mortars toward the Marez base, posting video of men in ski masks manning the tubes.
Most of the time, the explosions are shrugged off by soldiers as little more than a nuisance. Most are fired quickly and at random by insurgents who leap from cars in the city's busy streets without taking necessary measurements.
When mortars do strike buildings on the post, the information is usually kept secret to avoid tipping off attackers about the accuracy of their strikes. U.S. officers worry, however, that insurgent informants on the post may be passing targeting data to attackers on the outside to help them refine their fire.
DEBKA's take seems right:
If it was indeed a suicide operation as the group claims it would mean base shared by US and Iraqi national guards troops had been penetrated by followers of one of three al Qaeda groups attacking Americans in Iraq.
UPDATE: Belmont Club has a must-read analysis.
Also, the enemy ruthlessly mortared the field hospital where the casualties were taken. Read a chaplain's moving first-hand account.
Posted by Alan at December 22, 2004 10:12 AM