BAGHDAD, 2 January 2004 — The death toll from a powerful car bomb that tore apart a popular Baghdad restaurant packed with New Year’s Eve revelers rose to at least eight yesterday, as the capital was gripped by fear of more attacks. The Nabil restaurant in the upscale Karrada district was virtually destroyed by Wednesday night’s blast less than three hours before the clock ticked over to 2004.
“I can confirm that eight people have been killed,” a coalition spokesman told AFP, without revealing the nationalities of the victims. The Iraqi Interior Ministry earlier put the dead at five, all Iraqis, and the number of wounded at 24. The latter included three Los Angeles Times reporters and four staff members of the newspaper’s Baghdad bureau, but their injuries were not life threatening.
“Right now the death toll we believe is six to eight with at least 30 walking wounded who were treated at local hospitals,” Lt. Col. Peter Jones, the senior US officer at the scene, told Reuters outside the ruined building. Jones said the blast was caused by a car bomb parked next to the restaurant.
The attack occurred despite increased security measures over the Christmas and New Year holidays by both the US-led coalition and Iraqi police. US troops had been on high alert ever since the capture of ousted strongman Saddam Hussein nearly three weeks ago.
Iraqi businessmen and residents of the capital were predicting a grim 2004 following the bombing, despite optimism for long-term peace. A spokesman for the US-led coalition said the blast was caused by van loaded with about 180 kilograms of explosives and artillery shells.
The explosion leveled the restaurant and the building behind it, and sent glass flying as its force blew in windows in a three-block radius. Witnesses saw several bodies lying in the rubble. A woman cried for her husband wounded in the blast and hugged her daughter and son-in-law hysterically.
A guard from the restaurant and other witnesses speculated it was a suicide bomb, pointing to flesh and shredded trousers on the ground. The guard said the blast came some 15 minutes after he had an argument with the driver of an Oldsmobile sedan who had passed the restaurant two or three times and wanted to know where he could park.
But the US Army was ruling out a suicide bombing. An officer said initial indications were the bomber died running away from the booby trapped car after he detonated the explosives by remote control.
“It is starting to shape up as someone who parked the vehicle and ran away and detonated it by remote control,” but died fleeing the strong blast, the officer said on condition of anonymity. “That is what the preliminary investigation is leading us toward.”
But the officer emphasized the attack did not fit the pattern of insurgent strikes because it targeted a place with no clear links to the coalition, Iraqi officials or other organizations involved in Iraq’s reconstruction. He raised the possibility the blast could even be a settling of old scores.
The Christian-owned restaurant, which serves alcohol and often brings in belly dancers for customers, is popular with both Westerners and the Iraqi elite. But proprietor Nabil Hanna described Wednesday night as a sedate party to welcome in 2004, with musicians playing pop tunes and his chef cooking up the restaurant’s usual Chinese and Italian fare.
Iraqi businessmen said they feared the bombing boded ill for the new year. “I was to start my business again, and look what they’ve done. My hotel is completely destroyed,” said Sahad Jawad, owner of the Janat Adan hotel, badly hit by the Nabil bombing after being rebuilt following an attack last year.
Owners of many Baghdad restaurants said yesterday they were considering stopping the sale of wine and liquor, hoping this would reduce the number of foreigners coming in and avoid attracting the attention of the guerrillas.
