2005 Al Hillah bombing explained

2005 Al Hillah bombing
Location:Al Hillah, Iraq
Target:Iraqi police recruiting center
Date:February 28, 2005
Partof:Iraqi insurgency (2003–2006) in Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)
Type:Suicide car bomb
Fatalities:127
Injuries:Hundreds
Perp:Raed Mansour al-Banna

The Al Hillah bombing killed 127 people, chiefly men lining up to join the Iraqi police forces, at the recruiting centre on February 28, 2005 in Al Hillah, Iraq.

The bombing caused a worsening of Iraqi-Jordanian diplomatic relations after it was learned that suicide bomber, Raed Mansour al-Banna, had come from Jordan. Banna's family in Jordan gave him a heroic funeral, angering many Iraqi Shia. Thousands protested outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad and demanded it close, and the dispute led to both countries recalling their respective ambassadors.[1]

Al-Banna had earlier tried to enter the United States in July 2003, although he was turned away at O'Hare Airport as he possessed "multiple terrorist risk factors".[2]

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50921-2005Mar20?language=printer Iraq-Jordan Dispute Deepens; Diplomats Recalled in Aftermath of Suicide Bombing
  2. Temple-Raston, Dina. The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in the Age of Terror, 2007