The Forward Operating Base Marez bombing took place on December 21, 2004. Fourteen U.S. soldiers, four U.S. citizen

Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries ...

employees, and four Iraqi soldiers allied with the U.S. military were killed by a suicide bomber in a

dining hall A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or schoo ...

at the

Forward Operating Base A forward operating base (FOB) is any secured forward operational level military position, commonly a military base, that is used to support strategic goals and tactical objectives. A FOB may or may not contain an airfield, hospital, machine ...

next to the main U.S. military airfield at

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

.The inside story of the deadliest attack on a U.S. military base during the Iraq War
Task & Purpose, 2 Dec 2020.

Pentagon report

The Pentagon reported that 72 other personnel were injured in the attack carried out by a

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

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 Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan ( ku, ئەنسارولئیسلام له کوردستان),Chalk, Peter, ''Encyclopedia of Terrorism'' Volume 1, 2012, ABC-CLIO simply called Ansar al-Islam ( ku, ئەنسارولئیسلام), also nicknamed the Kurdi ...

) released an internet message taking credit for the attack. The bomber entered the mess tent and approached a large group of U.S. soldiers, detonating himself and killing 22 people. It was the single deadliest suicide attack against the US military in Iraq.

After attack

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.Mosul Base Commanders Had Warning of an Attack
ABC News, 22 Dec 2004. The reference was apparently to the

1983 Beirut barracks bombing Early on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese ...

in which 241 U.S. service members were killed. Following the discovery of the papers, commanders at the base — which is about 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. The AP reported that the bomber was a twenty-year-old medical student from

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

.Bomber of Mess Hall was Reportedly Saudi
LA Times, 4 Jan 2005. A US Army report identified a different Saudi national as the suicide bomber and said he got help from Iraqi troops working at the base.

The dead

* Fallen soldiers from

133rd Engineer Battalion The 133rd Engineer Battalion is a component of the Maine Army National Guard and the United States Army. The organisations is the oldest in the Maine Guard and is one of the largest organisations in the state. The battalion has responded to na ...

(Maine); Sergeant Thomas Dostie of Somerville, Maine, Sergeant Lynn R. Poulin Sr. of Freedom, Maine * Fallen soldier from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment "Bobcats", Ft Lewis, WA); SSG Julian S. Melo * Fallen soldiers from Deuce Four Infantry (1/24- Ft Lewis, WA); CPT William Jacobsen, SSG Robert Johnson, SPC Johnathon Castro, PFC Lionel Ayro * Fallen Soldiers from C276 Eng (

Virginia National Guard The Virginia National Guard consists of the Virginia Army National Guard and the Virginia Air National Guard. It is part of the Government of Virginia though the National Guard across the United States is mostly funded by the federal government ...

, West Point, VA); Sgt Nick Mason, Sgt David Ruhren * Fallen Soldier from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment; SSG Darren Vankomen * Fallen Sailor from NMCB-7; Chief Petty Officer Joel Baldwin *Iraqi Army Chief Warrant Officer Majdee Yousef Aziz, Iraqi Army 1st Lt. Mushtag Satar Jabar, Iraqi Army Sgt. Ahmad Hashem Mahdi, Iraqi National Guardsman Sherzad Kamo Bro

References

External links

Deadly Attack on U.S. Military Base

FoxNews The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is own ...

"A Few Unforeseen Things"
by Elliott Woods,

Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussion" ...

, Fall 2008. Video interviews with the families and comrades of two victims of the attack. {{DEFAULTSORT:Forward Operating Base Marez Bombing Suicide bombings in 2004 2004 murders in Iraq 21st-century mass murder in Iraq Iraq War 2004 in Iraq Suicide bombings in Iraq Mass murder in 2004 Terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2004 December 2004 events in Iraq History of Mosul

Pentagon report

After attack

The dead

See also

References

External links