Explosions kill nine at Baghdad Ammo Dump

Baghdad - Unknown attackers fired flares at an American ammunition dump on Baghdad's outskirts early Saturday, setting off thundering explosions that killed at least nine people, including three babies. Local residents said one U.S. soldier was injured.

Angry residents fired on U.S. troops trying to treat the injured and recover bodies from the rubble, driving American forces from the area.

"We took out six bodies. We were about to dig out three babies when they opened fire on us," Command Sgt. Maj. Gary Coker told Associated Press Television News. He said angry residents opened fire, believing U.S. troops were to blame for the explosions.

"It's too dangerous for my soldiers to be there right now," Coker said.

Coker said the flare that hit the ammunition dump was fired by "somebody who knew what pistol flare — if that's what it was — could do if it landed on a pile of ammunition."

The ammunition was stored in the open, in a large field surrounded by high walls in the Zafaraniyah neighborhood in Baghdad's southeast.

Sgt. 1st Class Roger King said several flares were fired over the walls. "The flares landed on some ammo boxes and that's what started it."

The ordnance in the dump was part of the huge hauls of munitions that U.S. forces have been gathering from around Baghdad.

Ali Jawid, a neighborhood resident, said a number of explosions rocked the area, hitting houses and buildings.

"I have seen many people crying and I have seen many houses destroyed," he said. "There were many explosions, many shards of missiles hit the buildings."

In recent days, there have been controlled explosions at the same ammunition dump when U.S. force destroyed arms caches.

At the U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, a spokesman said U.S. officials were looking into an explosion.

The CNN television network broadcast videotape of injured women and children with bloodied faces and said the blast may have killed at least 14 civilians. -- Associated Press

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