Forward Operating Base Marez bombing
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| Attack on Forward Operating Base Marez | |
|---|---|
| Location | Mosul, Iraq |
| Target(s) | Forward Operating Base Marez |
| Date | December 21, 2004 |
| Attack Type | suicide bombing |
| Fatalities | 14 U.S. soldiers 4 U.S. civilians 4 Iraqi soldiers |
| Injuries | 72 (including 51 U.S. soldiers) |
| Perpetrator(s) | Army of Ansar al-Sunna |
| Bombings and terrorist attacks of the Iraq War |
|---|
| Attacks with 80+ casualties in bold: Jordanian embassy – UN headquarters – Imam Ali Mosque – 1st Baghdad – Nasiriyah – Karbala – Irbil – Ashoura – Basra – Baqubah – Kufa – FOB Marez – 1st Al Hillah – Musayyib – 2nd Baghdad – 3rd Baghdad – Khanaqin – Al-Askari Mosque – Buratha Mosque – 1st Sadr City – 2nd Sadr City – 4th Baghdad – 5th Baghdad – 6th Baghdad – 7th Baghdad – 8th Baghdad – 2nd Al Hillah – Tal Afar |
The Forward Operating Base Marez bombing took place on December 21, 2004. Fourteen U.S. soldiers, four U.S. citizen Halliburton employees, and four Iraqi soldiers allied with the U.S. military were killed in an attack on a dining hall at the Forward Operating Base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul.
The Pentagon reported that 72 other personnel were injured in the attack carried out by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest and the uniform of the Iraqi security services. The Islamist insurgent group Army of Ansar al-Sunna (partly evolved from Ansar al-Islam) took credit for the attack in an Internet statement. The bomber entered the mess tent and approached a large group of U.S. soldiers detonating himself killing 22 people. It was the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers with 14 soldiers dead.
[edit] Intelligence
Weeks before the attack, soldiers from the base intercepted a document that mentioned a proposal for a massive "Beirut"-type attack on U.S. forces. The reference was apparently to the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing in which 241 U.S. Marines were killed. Following the discovery of the papers, commanders at the base — which is about three miles south of Mosul and is used by both U.S. troops and the interim Iraqi National Guard forces — ratcheted up already tight security. Ansar al-Sunnah said the suicide bomber was a 24-year-old man from Mosul who worked at the base for two months and had provided information about the base to the group.
