An explosion inside the Ministry of Public Works on Monday wounded an Iraqi vice president and the public works minister and killed at least five people, in what officials described as a possible assassination attempt.
Though it was unclear where in the building the bomb was hidden or who the target was, the attack was the most serious breach of an Iraqi government building since November, when dozens of employees at the Ministry of Higher Education were kidnapped by gunmen dressed in police commando uniforms.
Adel Abdul-Mahdi, one of Iraq's two vice presidents, was approaching a conference room lectern to address ministry employees at the time of the blast, which tore through walls and hurled him to the ground, witnesses said. His guards threw themselves on top of him, and he was immediately taken to an American-run hospital inside the Green Zone where witnesses said he was received in a wheelchair, covered in dust but smiling.
The above is from Damien Cave's "Bombing at Iraqi Ministry Wounds 2 Top Officials" in this morning's New York Times. Meanwhile Reuters reports already today two car bombs in Baghdad, two roadside bombs in Baghdad and the discovered corpse count for Monday rose from 18 to 25.
Be sure to check out Elaine's "It's a democracy, not a junta" and that's going to be it for this morning. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the new york times
damien cave
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