Iraq insurgents send a message

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Last month, Iraq experienced its lowest casualty rates in over a year, leading some to think the worst of the insurgency was over.

However, hopes for stability were shattered on Thursday when a pair of car bombs exploded near government buildings in Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding 36.  Another dozen people were killed in separate attacks elsewhere in Iraq.

NBC News Charles Sabine reports on violence and what is was like to be within striking distance of an attack.

You were very close to Thursday's insurgent attacks in Baghdad. What happened?
There were three explosions here right next to our NBC Bureau in the center of Baghdad. The first struck at 10 a.m. (local time) shaking our NBC News Bureau compound. A suicide bomber detonated his vehicle in the street almost immediately below us. 

It was a huge ball of flame with smoke rising hundreds of feet into the air. As we all rushed to see what had happened in that first explosion, about 30 seconds later, a second car exploded just about a hundred yards away from that one, even closer to our building, shattering windows in the NBC News Bureau and shaking us all to the bone. 

Slide show   Baghdad blasts A pair of car bombs explodes near government offices in the Iraqi capital, killing at least 18.

The two explosions happened near the entrance to the Iraqi Interior Ministry compound and we assumed they were trying to get close to that. But it later became clear that they were trying to hit some sort of a convoy that had been heading down the road.

It’s very unclear as to what the exact target was, but what happened in the next few minutes was the sound of continuous gunfire.

As panic spread through the streets below us, it wasn't clear where the gunfire was coming from, whether some of it might have come from ammunition inside the vehicles which were now burning. There were about 15 vehicles that were destroyed by these two enormous explosions. 

And as it turned out, we believe 18 people were killed. It’s certainly one of the most serious explosions we’ve seen here in Baghdad for a long time and one of the most dangerous ones in terms of our personal safety. I can tell you that no one from NBC was hurt in either of those explosions. 

Then about three hours later I was filing a report for NBC on camera when there was an enormous explosion from the same part of the street where the other two had happened, just behind me. I felt it push me off my feet just as I was recording a piece to camera and it turned out that this was a third car bomb that had not exploded in the original attack.

It detonated as bomb disposal teams were trying to sweep the area for any unexploded ordinance. And they were effectively taken by surprise by the size of the bomb that was in one of the vehicles in the area.

Three-hundred pounds of plastic explosives were still in that vehicle when they let off a controlled device there. Later in the day we learned that the al-Qaida wing in Iraq led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for what was clearly an extremely well-planned and well-coordinated deadly attack.

With the latest wave of attacks, does it appear that the insurgency has got a new energy after a quiet period?
Coalition forces had been encouraged by a relative lull in militant attacks here in Iraq after January’s elections. 

March showed the lowest statistics for a year for coalition casualties and military attacks. So the coalition forces had been encouraged by that; however, today’s events and other attacks that we have seen, including the coordinated attack on Abu Ghraib prison last week, show that the insurgency is very far from over. 

Indeed there was worrying news for coalition forces on a website today as a group called Ansar al-Sunnah — which was claiming responsibility for another attack that occurred in Kirkuk where gunmen killed five police officers — suggested that it is now teaming up with al-Qaida to coordinate attacks on coalition forces.  

So it would seem that not only is the insurgency far from over, but the insurgents are mounting a new effort to show that they are still around.

MORE FROM MIDEAST & N. AFRICA

Mideast & N. Africa Section Front

Iranian forces clash with protesters U.S. donates gear needed in Afghan fight to Iraq Officials recommend postponing Iraqi elections Mideast & N. Africa Section Front   Add Mideast & N. Africa headlines to your news reader: