Baghdad Blasts at Arms Dump Kill at Least 6
At least six Iraqi civilians were killed on the outskirts of Baghdad today when explosions ripped through an ammunition dump guarded by American troops in their neighborhood. Military officials said a group of attackers had fired a flare into the cache, setting off the blasts.

A statement from the United States Central Command said six Iraqis had been killed and four wounded. But a military official in Baghdad said the toll could be as high as 40 people killed or wounded in the attack.

An official at the scene said that the flare set off a Soviet-made Frog battlefield rocket that was part of the Iraqi arsenal, and that it resulted in the explosion that caused most of the casualties.

The military, concerned about the reaction from the Iraqi public, began radio broadcasts tonight saying that the attack had been by people trying to undermine Iraq's future, and that Americans had been trying to help Iraqis by collecting arms from around the city and adding them to the cache.

Officials said that they were still investigating the case and that the exact circumstances of what happened remained unclear. There was no definitive report of who was responsible for the explosion.

As some of soldiers from the Army's Third Infantry Division tried to provide medical assistance immediately after the explosions, they were fired on by angry residents, officials said. An American official said that one reason there were few details about the number of casualties was because soldiers withdrew after the angry reaction by residents.

Shouts of "Down with America" rang through the neighborhood, called Zafaraniya, and a truck drove through the streets with six coffins, apparently for the dead.

One hospital said it had received 20 patients who were wounded in the blast. One American soldier was wounded in the attack, Central Command said.

At the ammunition dump, Sgt. Maj. Gary Coker said that both American and Iraqi ammunition was stored over several acres of ground protected by a high wall.

As the extent of the casualties became clear, residents said they were incensed that American soldiers continued to add to the dump, which the government of Saddam Hussein had put so close to their neighborhood.…

In the statement, the Central Command said, "An unknown number of individuals attacked U.S. Third Infantry Division soldiers who were guarding a cache of captured Iraqi ammunition near Baghdad this morning."

"During the attack, the assailant fired an unknown incendiary device into the cache, causing it to catch fire and explode," the statement said. "The explosion caused the destruction of the cache as well as a nearby building."

The attack came as American officials here announced that they had been making steady progress in restoring basic services to Baghdad.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/27/international/worldspecial/27IRAQ.html