Just 2 Seconds (54 page)

Read Just 2 Seconds Online

Authors: Gavin de Becker,Thomas A. Taylor,Jeff Marquart

588.
Date: October 13, 2003
Target: Governor Abdullah Shahad al-Jaburi
Location: al-Moqdadiyah, Iraq
Details: Al-Jaburi was going to work when a roadside bomb detonated near his home. Two policemen were seriously wounded and a civilian was also injured, but the governor emerged unscathed. The policemen were in a separate car as part of the governor's convoy.

589.
Date: October 26, 2003
Target: Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Iraqi insurgents drove a pickup to the hotel, where Wolfowitz and his entourage were staying. Their truck was towing what looked like a portable, two-wheeled generator. When security guards approached, the assailants drove off, but rockets within the trailer apparently had been set to fire via a timer and suddenly ignited, flashing toward the hotel, a clear shot looming just over the treetops. An American colonel was killed and 18 were wounded, but Wolfowitz was uninjured. The attackers had welded together a launcher that held both 68mm and 85mm artillery rockets. Between eight and ten struck the hotel.

590.
Date: December 6, 2003
Target: U.S. Administrator Paul Bremer
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Bremer's convoy was traveling from the airport to the office when it struck an explosive device and came under small arms fire. The convoy sped away and there were no injuries.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

591.
Date: December 14, 2003
Target: President Pervez Musharraf
Location: Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Details: Two remote-controlled bombs exploded, destroying a concrete bridge seconds after Musharraf's motorcade crossed it. The bombs were foiled by high tech jammers carried in Musharraf's vehicle. There were no injuries. Al-Qaeda terrorists were believed to be involved.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

592.
Date: December 25, 2003
Target: President Pervez Musharraf
Location: Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Details: Two suicide bombers detonated explosives hidden in pickup trucks as Musharaff's motorcade passed two gas stations on a main road in Rawalpindi. The windshield of Musharraf's car was damaged, though he was unhurt. Sixteen were killed, including six policemen, four military personnel, and twelve civilians, and 46 were injured. Musharraf returned to Army House, the heavily fortified official residence of the army chief. The road where the attack occurred is one used nearly every day by Musharraf as he travels from his residence to his presidential offices.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

593.
Date: February 12, 2004
Target: General John Abizaid
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Abizaid's motorcade came under attack as it pulled into the headquarters of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. Several gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles from surrounding rooftops. U.S. forces returned fire. There were no casualties in the attack.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

594.
Date: March 28, 2004
Target: G.E. Engineer
Location: Mosul, Iraq
Details: Andy Bradsell and his partner, Christopher McDonald, both security contractors for the British-based Olive Security, were protecting a General Electric engineer, who was to help rebuild the city's power plant. An estimated 15 to 19 insurgents in several vehicles attacked their two-vehicle convoy, as it approached the plant in Mosul. Bradsell reportedly maneuvered his vehicle between the gunmen and the lead truck carrying the GE engineer, allowing the man and his bodyguards to escape. At the same time, McDonald, who was with Bradsell, opened fire on the insurgents. Both Bradsell and McDonald died from multiple gunshot wounds. More than 270 private security contractors have reportedly died in Iraq.
(4-STARS: Protector action during the attack entirely prevented injury.)

595.
Date: March 31, 2004
Target: Members of Bolivian Congress
Location: La Paz, Bolivia
Details: An out-of-work miner entered the Congress building wearing a vest of dynamite. Police and security agents evacuated the area and were negotiating with him when his bomb exploded, killing the man and two security officers, and wounding several others.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

596.
Date: May 27, 2004
Target: Iraqi Governing Council Member Salama al-Khafaji
Location: Yusufiyah, Iraq
Details: Al-Khakaji's three-vehicle convoy came under fire. A bodyguard was killed and another was critically wounded. Her teenaged son was in a separate vehicle, which plunged into an irrigation canal. Witnesses saw him swimming away, but he was found dead. Al-Khafaji was uninjured.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

597.
Date: July 12, 2004
Target: Iraqi Olympic Team Chief Ahmed al-Samarrai
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: A roadside bomb exploded as Al-Samarrai's two-car motorcade drove past. Then attackers threw grenades and fired automatic weapons as the cars sped away. Al-Samarrai was unhurt, but one of his bodyguards was wounded.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

598.
Date: July 13, 2004
Target: President Sergei Abramov
Location: Grozny, Chechnya
Details: Abramov's motorcade was
en route
to an inspection of a construction site when a roadside bomb exploded. One of his bodyguards in a follow-up vehicle was killed and three others were wounded. Abramov was uninjured.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

Other books

Death by Facebook by Peacock, Everett
Beneath a Dakota Cross by Stephen A. Bly
My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather
The Ask by Sam Lipsyte
Charlie's Dream by Jamie Rowboat
Poisonous Kiss by Andras Totisz
The Solar Flare by Laura E. Collins
Cry for the Strangers by Saul, John