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Today a chemical attack took place on the compound (sometimes called the Civil Military Operations Center or Fallujah Government Center) which houses Fallujah Police Headquarters and the Fallujah Police Transition Team, as well as IAs, a MiTT and various government offices. The Fourth Rail:

Today, Al Qaeda conducted yet another chlorine gas suicide bombing, this time directed at the Fallujah government center, in the very heart of the city of Fallujah. The attack was coordinated; Multinational Forces West described it as "complex." The two suicide truck bombs and small arms fire was preceded by mortar fire, which likely was designed to distract the guards at the gates.

"The attack began at 6:33 a.m. with mortar fire, followed by two truck bombs and small arms fire. Iraqi Police identified the first suicide attacker and fired on the truck, causing it to detonate before reaching the compound," according to the Multinational Forces West press release. "Iraqi Army soldiers spotted the second suicide truck approaching the gate and engaged it with small arms fire, causing it to also detonate near the entrance of the compound."

Fifteen Iraqi soldiers, police and U.S. advisers stationed at the government center were injured in the blast, while "numerous Iraqi Soldiers and Policemen are being treated for symptoms such as labored breathing, nausea, skin irritation and vomiting that are synonymous with chlorine inhalation"

Just awful. Thankfully the IAs and IPs nailed the trucks before they breached far into the compound. That said, people were still poisoned. I'm fervently hoping the PiTT & MiTT members, IAs and IPs are not seriously injured.

More from Roggio.

A release from MNF-West:

No Iraqi or Coalition Forces were killed in the attack.

And more contextual detail on the FGC as an insurgent target, the Iraqi Police and the PiTT mission from my embed coverage.

UPDATE: Via e-mails from PTT personnel and a family member of an injured MTT marine: "Minor injuries" to IPs, IAs and several members of the MiTT. "Shaken (literally)" but ok.

Apparently the crude method of dispersing the gas in a via blowing up canisters renders the poison less widespread and lethal. From an LA Times story about a February attack:

Chemists said that exploding high-pressure canisters are at best a crude way to disperse the green gas. Some would burn off, and the rest of the gas, which is heavier than air, would be unlikely to spread much beyond the blast zone.

Stephen Bradforth, a chemistry professor at USC, suggested that the most serious damage could be psychological.

An explosion "would launch a cloud of gas that is colored and highly corrosive and would lead to panic and more injuries," he said. "It's the chemical equivalent of a nail bomb."

UPDATE: PiTT Commander Major Brian Lippo e-mails:

We're all OK...just a little shaken (literally) from the blast. Marines had a few headaches from the chlorine, but nobody needed to be evaced. There was a lot of mortars and small arms that preceeded the SVBIEDs and we had 6 IPs injured from the mortars (they're all going to be OK).

Clarification: no PiTT members were evac'ed.

Posted by Bill at March 28, 2007 05:42 PM | TrackBack (2)

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