U.S. acknowledges bombs triggered blasts (still trying to lie!)

[ProSense]

U.S. acknowledges bombs triggered blasts

By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press Writer
4 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs triggered gas explosions in a Shiite neighborhood two days ago, the U.S. said Tuesday, acknowledging that the attack was due to a hostile act.

At least 63 Iraqis were killed and 140 wounded in the series of explosions Sunday night in Zafraniyah. Iraqi officials said the blasts were due to car bombs and a rocket attack from a Sunni neighborhood under U.S. control.

But U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, insisted Monday that American experts had concluded that there was "no evidence" of anything other than a "significant gas explosion."

That implied that the blast may not have been due to a hostile act.

However, a U.S. statement Tuesday said the blasts were triggered when two car bombs detonated near a residential building, "causing a gas explosion" that collapsed the structure.

Snip...

"From the extent of the damage and some of the remains, it is clear that the explosions were caused by bombs and rockets," Abu al-Ula said. "What the Americans are saying is not correct. Maybe they are trying not to shoulder responsibility because the rockets were fired from Dora where there is heavy U.S. deployment."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060815/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_explosion_controversy_3

[Supersedeas]

1. in a state of denial???

[ProSense]

2. Iraqi Death Toll Rose Above 3,400 in July

August 15, 2006

Iraqi Death Toll Rose Above 3,400 in July

By EDWARD WONG and DAMIEN CAVE

Snip...

An average of more than 110 Iraqis were killed each day in July, according to the figures. The total number of civilian deaths that month, 3,438, is a 9 percent increase over the tally in June and nearly double the toll in January.

The rising numbers indicate that sectarian violence is spiraling out of control and seem to bolster an assertion that many senior Iraqi officials and American military analysts have been making in recent months: that the country is already embroiled in a civil war, not just slipping toward one, and that the American-led forces are caught between Sunni Arab guerrillas and Shiite militias.

Snip...

The American command has added nearly 4,000 American soldiers to Baghdad by extending the tour of a combat brigade. Under a new security plan aimed at overhauling Mr. Maliki’s efforts, some of the city’s most violent southern and western areas are now virtually occupied block-to-block by American and Iraqi forces, with entire neighborhoods transformed into miniature police states after being sealed off by blast walls and concertina wire.

Snip...

One of the deadliest attacks in recent weeks took place in southern Baghdad on Sunday night, when bombs, mortars and rockets killed at least 57 people in a Shiite neighborhood, according to Iraqi officials. The American military said Tuesday that the death toll had grown to at least 63 Iraqis and that the cause had been identified: two car bombs that ignited a gas line.

A day earlier, the American military said the deaths were caused solely by a gas main explosion and not by any attack, but now says that conclusion was based on “incomplete information.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15cnd-iraq.html?ex=1313294400&en=591fbf890f54f32f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss