Chlorine bomb kills 27 in Iraq

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) — A suicide bomber blew up a truck packed with TNT and chlorine gas killing 27 people in the insurgent bastion of Ramadi on Friday in the deadliest dirty bombing since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The attack -- targeting a police station but exploding in a residential neighbourhood -- came as US-backed Iraqi forces launched a new crackdown on militia in central Iraq.

"At least 27 people, many of them women and children, have been killed in the attack," a police officer in Ramadi told AFP, adding that another 30 people were wounded.

Although the bomber intended to target a police station, he blew himself up 200 metres (yards) away, next to a market and homes.

"The truck contained many tonnes of chlorine and TNT which were covered by...