Iraq: ninth chlorine attack

A bomber driving a truck loaded with TNT and chlorine gas crashed into a police checkpoint in Iraq’s Anbar province April 6, killing at least 27 and wounding dozens. The bombing near Ramadi marked the ninth use of suicide chlorine bombs in the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. The attacks come as many Anbar tribes have switched allegiance, with large numbers of military-age men joining the police force and Iraqi army in a bid to expel fighters of “al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia.” Police Major Mohammed Mahmoud al Nattah, a member of the Anbar Salvation council, told state-run Iraqiya TV that the bomber hit a residential complex, and that dozens of wounded were taken to the Ramadi hospital. Nearby buildings were heavily damaged and police were searching the rubble for more victims. (AP, March 6).

See our last post on Iraq and the sectarian cleansing.