Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Saturday, February 26, 2005
Section:Nation/World; Page:5
By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs
BALAD RUZ, Iraq — A bomb estimated at nearly 300 pounds shook this city’s crowded marketplace and hardened the 278th Regimental Combat Team soldiers charged with protecting the region. "This reinforced the fact people are serious about killing us," said Capt. Dale Bradley, Apache Troop commander. "The people doing this don’t care. They just want to kill people. We picked up children." Feb. 11, 2005, is already being called Black Friday by the residents of this town of about 80,000 people, about 45 miles east of Baghdad.
The car bombing that day took the lives of 14 Iraqis and wounded at least 24 in the single deadliest incident here since the Tennessee National Guard unit arrived last December.
The destruction occurred after a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a truck carrying Iraqi army soldiers. Insurgents also planted another car bomb, said to have been carrying 450 pounds of explosives, across the street from the site of the first blast. A team of soldiers found cows eating the corn the insurgents had spread over the back of the truck to hide their explosives. For undisclosed reasons the explosives did not blow up. Sgt. Aaron Scott, 29 of Cleveland, Tenn., said the soldiers providing aid came to within 20 feet of the second car bomb before word came to evacuate the area.
"God was really watching over us that day," Sgt. Scott said.
Sgt. James Goode, 36, of Cleveland, Tenn., said he had just stood out of the hatch in an armored personnel carrier when he saw and felt the blast. He said some victims’ remains landed as far as 200 meters from the car bomb.
Black Friday did not end with the car bombing. Insurgents fired four large mortar rounds toward the city’s Joint Command Center, a heavily barricaded complex housing 278th troops as well as Iraqi police and soldiers. They all missed their intended target.
Apache Troop members launched a manhunt for the mortar attackers but did not turn up any arrests that day.
Today all that remains at the bombing site are soot-colored bricks and the charred ground. A black flag with Arabic words painted in white hangs nearby in remembrance of those who died. "It really opened my eyes to see what these guys go through on a day-to-day basis that we have the luxury of not worrying about in the U.S.," said Spc. Troy Mysinger, 21, of Cleveland.
He said some people in the town blame the American presence for Black Friday.
"They frown upon us and give us dirty looks because it happened while we are here to help them," Sgt. Mysinger said. "They tell us, ‘This is Iraq, and you are Americans, so go back to America.’"
Two homemade bombs have exploded causing minor injuries to Apache troops. But the soldiers have discovered nearly 12 roadside bombs before they went off. In addition, three times Apache soldiers have come across the remains of insurgents who blew themselves up trying to make or set a roadside bomb.
Still, Sgt. Barrett Vaughn, 23, of Cleveland, said he was encouraged about the future while walking the beat during a religious holiday here exactly one week after Black Friday. He said Balad Ruz residents still out in the streets celebrating offered the soldiers tea and cookies.
E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com
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