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IRAQ: BOMB EXPLODES IN GREEN ZONE November 22, 2006
Zainab Osman
(SomaliNet) A bomb exploded in an armored car among those belonging to the speaker of Parliament, wounding the American security guard who was driving it out of a parking area in the government Green.
Though the speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, was not in the vehicle and was unscathed, the assassination attempt was one of the most serious breaches of security yet within the Green Zone, the heavily fortified government district on the west bank of the Tigris River.
The bomb, which exploded in mid afternoon, was planted inside an armored car that resembled the one the speaker uses and was usually used as a decoy car in his convoy. Only part of the bomb exploded, a police official said investigators believe that the bomb was planted inside the Green Zone and detonated by cell phone.
Mr. Mashhadani, a hard-line Sunni Arab nationalist reviled by many Shiites, was attending a Parliament meeting inside the Green Zone convention center at the time of the explosion. He and other legislators were forced to stay inside for hours afterward while the American military secured the area.
Across Baghdad, at least 29 bodies were discovered Tuesday, an Interior Ministry official said. In Diyala Province, at least 13 people were killed in scattered violence.