DEADLY BAGHDAD EXPLOSION WAS ACCIDENTAL GAS BLAST: US

Agence France Presse — English
August 14, 2006 Monday 12:27 PM GMT

A deadly explosion which demolished a building in a Baghdad market
was an accidental gas blast, a US military spokesman said Monday,
differing sharply from the Iraqi government’s version of events.

Iraqi officials — including the office of Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki — had earlier blamed a series of insurgent car bombs and
missile strikes for Sunday’s explosions, which killed at least 57
people as night fell.

But Major General William Caldwell, the chief spokesman for the US-led
military coalition in Iraq, told reporters that American explosives
experts believed that a major gas explosion had triggered a series
of blasts.

"Our explosives specialists reported today that it was a very
significant gas explosion on the first floor of the building," he said.

"The secondary explosions were the result of that. There is no evidence
substantiating that something else was involved. Everything now points
out that it was an internal gas explosion that set off a series of
other explosions."

Earlier, a statement from Maliki’s media office had blamed the
explosions on insurgent bombers, a version supported by Iraqi security
officials.

"Terrorist groups carried out a dirty and criminal operation, firing
a number of Katyusha rockets on a building in Al-Qubyasi, followed
by a car bomb explosion and a Katyusha near the Al-Barid area,"
the premier’s office said.

"This was followed by exploding a motorcycle near a public library
and the fall of a mortar shell near the Armenian Church," it added.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress