Suicide Car Bomber Attacks British Civilian Convoy In Mosul, 4 Killed

This was a bad one. A British civilian contractor company convoy was attacked by a suicide car bomber today and one of the British vehicles was hit by the explosion killing all four of the Brits inside. A stark reminder of the volatility of Iraq is seen in the account from Reuters (via Breitbart):

A suicide car bomber plowed into a convoy carrying employees of a British company in northern Iraq on Monday, killing four of them and wounding five Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security officials said.

The suicide bomber targeted the last vehicle of the convoy in restive Mosul, a dangerous city where al Qaeda remains active, and the force of the blast threw the armored vehicle 40 meters into a ravine, killing everyone inside, police said.

"I saw the other members of the convoy bring out four dead foreign civilians from the smashed car. One of them was beheaded," an Iraqi military officer, asking not to be named, said by telephone from the site of the attack in northern Mosul.

This attack comes just one day after a huge suicide attack in Baghdad that killed over 45 and so it continues...the intermittent suicide bombings confirm that there are still pockets of the insurgency that just don't seem to go away. One has to come to the conclusion that Iraq is destined to be like Pakistan for quite awhile - in that islamic terror attacks on civilians and security forces will become a way of life.

At the same time, with all due respect to these British killed today, the onslaught from insurgents since the withdrawl from the cities by U.S. forces has been less than I expected. Prediction: by the end of today, al Qaeda in Iraq will claim responsibility for this attack.

Bomber attacks British firm in northern Iraq


Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber plowed into a convoy carrying employees of a British company in northern Iraq on Monday, killing four of them and wounding five Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security officials said.

The suicide bomber targeted the last vehicle of the convoy in restive Mosul, a dangerous city where al Qaeda remains active, and the force of the blast threw the armored vehicle 40 meters into a ravine, killing everyone inside, police said.

"I saw the other members of the convoy bring out four dead foreign civilians from the smashed car. One of them was beheaded," an Iraqi military officer, asking not to be named, said by telephone from the site of the attack in northern Mosul.

Iraqi officials said the firm was a British construction company but its name was not immediately known and there was no independent confirmation.

The British embassy said it was checking reports that a British national was among the dead. "We stand ready to provide consular assistance where possible," a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

The nationalities of the other dead foreigners were not immediately known.

Mosul is on the front line of a longstanding feud between Iraq's Arabs and minority Kurds over land, power and oil wealth.

The region is also a hub for Sunni Islamist insurgents, and the U.S. military, which will end combat operations on August 31, sees Mosul as al Qaeda's last urban stronghold in Iraq.

Iraq is on high alert for insurgent attacks after a March 7 national election produced no clear winner and left the country adrift in political uncertainty.

Overall violence has dropped sharply since the height of sectarian carnage in 2006-7, but bombings and killings continue daily.