Suicide bomber believed behind Mosul attack... U.S. investigators say improvised device detonated inside mess tent

The Associated Press Updated: 8:23 p.m. ET Dec. 22, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said Wednesday that a suicide bomber likely carried out the explosion at a U.S. base near Mosul, spraying a crowded mess tent with small pellets and killing 22 people, nearly all of them Americans.

The announcement raised questions about how the attacker infiltrated the base, which is surrounded by blast walls and barbed wire and guarded by U.S. troops. However, as in many other U.S. military facilities, Iraqis do a variety of jobs at the base, including cleaning, cooking, construction and office duties.

The apparent sophistication of Tuesday’s operation — the deadliest single attack on U.S. troops since the war began — indicated that the attacker probably had inside knowledge of the base’s layout and the soldiers’ schedule. The blast came at lunchtime.

“We have had a suicide bomber apparently strap something to his body ... and go into a dining hall,” Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Wednesday at the Pentagon. “We know how difficult this is to prevent people bent on suicide and stopping them.”

Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, commander of the multinational force in Iraq, ordered an investigation. Troops found “no physical evidence of a rocket, mortar, or other type of indirect fire weapon,” according to a statement issued Thursday morning by military authorities in Baghdad.

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