2007 Al-Khilani Mosque Bombing - The Attack

The Attack

Iraq Police said a truck stacked with electric fans and air conditioners was used to deliver the bomb to a parking lot near the Khulani mosque. The U.S. military offered a different version of events, declaring that “the truck was loaded with propane tanks and that a suicide driver detonated his bomb when the vehicle became stuck trying to drive over a curb.” A preliminary investigation indicated that the truck used in the attack “was rigged with TNT a little less than a mile from where it exploded”. The bomb was set off around 1:45 pm local time (10:45 GMT) outside the mosque which is located in the busy Sinak commercial district of central Baghdad.

Jabbar Mohammed al-Kaissi, an eyewitness to the blast was across the street filling a five-liter gas can “when a truck carrying what he estimated was 60 canisters of gas exploded, sending canisters flying through the air, creating secondary explosions when they landed as far as 100 yards away.” He saw a ball of fire rise into the air and turning back to see the car holding his wife and three daughters saw the wall of the mosque fall on it crushing and killing them. "I was frozen by the shock. As I rushed to the car to see if I could save any of them, the gas canisters started to explode one after the other."

Besides causing the collapse of the courtyard wall the explosion also destroyed a building just inside the mosque compound. The mosque sanctuary was damaged slightly and the mosque's turquoise dome remained standing. The blast badly burned many worshippers and the resulting rubble buried others. The mosque’s imam, Sheik Saleh al-Haidari said the bomb was especially deadly as worshippers were just leaving a prayer service. At least 78 were slain and more than 218 were wounded. Six of the slain had lived in a house behind the mosque. Twenty cars outside the mosque were incinerated and twenty-five nearby shops suffered damages from the attack. Imam Haidari went on to say "This attack was planned and carried out by sick souls”, and that though he was not in the mosque at the time, his office and the room above collapsed in the explosion. Karim Abdullah an eyewitness who was headed to pray at the mosques reported "I stopped in shock as I saw the smoke and people on the ground. I saw two or three men in flames as they were getting out of their car." Gunfire was heard in the area following the explosion. Iraqi state television showed “black smoke billowing above the skyline as people on the street screamed in anguish. …storefronts were crumbled and on fire, and more than a dozen nearby cars were set ablaze. Residents walked through the area collecting body parts and unrecognizable chunks of flesh.” Many of the casualties were rushed to the nearby Al Kanadi, Al Sadr and Madinat Al Tob hospitals.