BAGHDAD, March 17: A car bomb exploded at a Baghdad hotel on Wednesday night, killing at least 28 people and injuring 41 others, the US military said. Colonel Ralph Baker of the 1st Armoured Division said rescuers were searching for victims in the Jabal Lebanon Hotel late into the night.
He said foreigners were among the guests. It was unclear whether a suicide bomber carried out the attack, he said. Americans, Britons, Egyptians as well as other foreigners were staying at the hotel, resident Faleh Kalhan said.
US soldiers and Iraqi ambulances raced to the scene, and rescuers pulled bodies from the rubble of the hotel. The explosion left a crater eight feet wide and 10 feet deep. Five smaller, adjacent buildings were badly damaged. Half a dozen dazed and injured people stumbled from the wreckage. A father cradled his young daughter, who was limp in his arms.
Flames shot skyward, and heavy smoke rose behind a central square from the area of the blast. Trees were on fire, and flames jumped to nearby buildings. Eight cars were on fire, and one vehicle was hurled by the blast into a store. "It has to be a car bomb. No rocket could cause that amount of damage," said Pfc. Heath Balick of the US Army's 1st Armoured Division, which is responsible for security in Baghdad.
The administration of US President George Bush offered prayers for the victims but said such attacks would not change US policy. "Democracy is taking root in Iraq and there is no turning back," said Scott McClellan, White House spokesman. "This is a time of testing, but the terrorists will not prevail."
Several residents said they believed a rocket caused the destruction, but US soldiers said the damage was consistent with that of a car bomb. Dozens of US soldiers in Humvees and Bradley fighting vehicles arrived and started to clear crowds. Bricks, air conditioners, furniture, wires and other debris was blown hundreds of meters from the hotel.
Earlier, two US soldiers tried to help pull bodies from the wreckage of the hotel, but angry Iraqis pushed them back. The blast shook the nearby Palestine Hotel, where many foreign contractors and journalists are based.
The explosion occurred behind Firdaus Square, where a bronze statue of Saddam Hussein was felled on April 9 with the help of US Marines who had just entered the center of the Iraqi capital. The area of the blast, Karrada, is a mix of residential and commercial buildings.
TRUMPETING PROGRESS: Analysts said the bombing overshadowed White House efforts to trumpet progress in Iraq one year after the US-led invasion despite ongoing resistance violence and the failure to find banned weapons there.
By now President George Bush had hoped to be cruising to re-election on a great victory over Saddam Hussein and to have set Iraq safely on course to stability as an example to other states in the region.
Instead, the promised weapons of mass destruction have never been found, US forces are under fire in a resistance that shows no sign of abating, and many Americans have become disenchanted with Mr Bush, who Democrats say faces a credibility issue. The bombing marked the latest setback to US efforts to impose order in the country. -Agencies
