Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad

Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad
Jordanian embassy after the bombings
Location	Baghdad, Iraq
Date	August 7, 2003
Target	Embassy of Jordan
Attack type	Bus bombing
Weapons	Improvised explosive device
Deaths	17
Injured	40
Perpetrators	Unknown

On 7 August 2003, a bomb exploded outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 17 people and injuring dozens more. The bomb, concealed in a minibus, exploded outside the walls of the embassy compound at around 11:00am local time. The force of the explosion sent a car onto a nearby rooftop and killed several people nearby including women and children. Six police officers guarding the embassy were among the dead. Immediately after the blast, the embassy compound was swarmed by a mob of Iraqis who ransacked the building, chanting anti-Jordanian slogans and burning portraits of King Abdullah II. According to Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of US forces in Iraq, the attack was the worst in Iraq since the capture of Baghdad that previous March.

Perpetrators

No group claimed the attack. A team of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation was dispatched to Iraq shortly after to investigate the bombing. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian insurgent leader, was the prime suspect in the investigation. The attack came a week after Jordan granted asylum to the daughters of Saddam Hussein, a move which angered numerous Iraqis.

External links

• Baghdad blast kills 10 at Jordanian Embassy (CNN)