Terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2003
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In 2003, there were 25 suicide bombings executed by 32 attackers.


February

*February 26: A suspected
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 ...
member
detonate Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with ...
d a suicide vest at a checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing three.


March

*March 22: Three people were killed, including an
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...
cameraman A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task. In filmmaki ...
, and nine others injured when a suicide
car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
er blew himself up at a checkpoint in Sayed Sadiq. *March 29: Iraqi soldier Ali Hammadi al-Namani killed four
US soldier The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
s in a suicide car
bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...
near
Najaf Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
.


April

*April 3: A
female suicide bomber Female suicide bombers are women who carry out a suicide attack, wherein the bomber kills herself while simultaneously killing targeted people. Suicide bombers are normally viewed as male political radicals but since the 1960s female suicide attac ...
killed three
coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...
soldiers at a checkpoint north-west of
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. Her apparent
accomplice Under the English common law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even if they take no part in the actual criminal offense. For example, in a bank robbery, the person who points the gun at the telle ...
, a pregnant woman who was also killed in the attack, exited the vehicle prior to the
explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...
and began screaming in fear. It is unclear if she was attempting to flee, or trying to draw the coalition troops towards her vehicle. *April 10: A suicide bomber walked up to a military checkpoint in central Baghdad and blew himself up, wounding four U.S. Marines.


August

*August 7: Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad: A bus bombing outside the
embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...
killed 17 people. *August 19: Canal Hotel bombing: in Baghdad, killed 22 people (including the top
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
representative Sergio Vieira de Mello) and wounds over 100. *August 29: Imam Ali mosque bombing: One or two car bombs, possibly detonated by suicide bombers, exploded outside the
Imam Ali Shrine The Sanctuary of Imām 'Alī ( ar, حَرَم ٱلْإِمَام عَلِيّ , Ḥaram al-ʾImām ʿAlī), also known as the Mosque of 'Alī ( ar, مَسْجِد عَلِيّ, Masjid ʿAlī), located in Najaf, Iraq, is a mosque which many Musl ...
in Najaf. Between 85 and 125 people were killed, including the leader of the nation's
Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...
community Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim.Terror strikes blamed on al-Zarqawi in Iraq - Hunt for Al-Qaida - nbcnews.com
/ref>


September

*September 9: A suicide car bomber targeted the
US intelligence The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
in the northern city of Irbil, killing three people and injuring 41. *September 22: A suicide car bomber blew himself up near the UN HQ in Baghdad, killing a
security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...
and wounding 19 people.


October

*October 9: In the first attack on an Iraqi police station, a suicide car bomb exploded outside a station in
Sadr City Sadr City ( ar, مدينة الصدر, translit=Madīnat aṣ-Ṣadr), formerly known as Al-Thawra ( ar, الثورة, aṯ-Ṯawra) and Saddam City ( ar, مدينة صدام, Madīnat Ṣaddām), is a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. ...
, killing at least eight people. *October 12: One or two suicide car bombs near the
Baghdad Hotel The Baghdad Hotel is a large hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, favored by Westerners after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The hotel overlooks the Tigris on its eastern bank. History The Baghdad Hotel Bombing Terror Attack occurred on October 12, 2003, when ...
killed six
Iraqis Iraqis ( ar, العراقيون, ku, گه‌لی عیراق, gelê Iraqê) are people who originate from the country of Iraq. Iraq consists largely of most of ancient Mesopotamia, the native land of the indigenous Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, ...
and wounded more than 30 others, including three US soldiers. *October 14: A suicide car bomb exploded outside the Turkish embassy in Baghdad, wounding two security guards. *October 16: A would-be suicide vehicle bomber was killed by security services before he could attack the
Interior Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...
building in Irbil. *October 27: 2003 Baghdad bombings: Four or five suicide car bombings rocked Baghdad, killing 30-40 people including, two US soldiers. The deadliest attack was on the HQ of the
International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
, where a suicide bomber driving an
ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to med ...
killed 12 people and wounded 20. The other attacks targeted Iraqi police stations. *October 28: A suicide car bomber blew himself up 100 yards from a police station in
Fallujah Fallujah ( ar, ٱلْفَلُّوجَة, al-Fallūjah, Iraqi pronunciation: ) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Je ...
, killing four people.


November

*November 12:
2003 Nasiriyah bombing The 2003 Nasiriyah bombing was a suicide attack on the Italian Carabinieri MSU headquarters in Nasiriyah, Iraq, south of Baghdad on 12 November 2003. The attack resulted in the deaths of 18 Italian servicemembers, mostly members of the MSU C ...
: A suicide car bombing in the southern town of
Nasiriyah Nasiriyah ( ar, ٱلنَّاصِرِيَّة; BGN: ''An Nāşirīyah''; also spelled ''Nassiriya'' or ''Nasiriya'') is a city in Iraq. It is on the lower Euphrates, about south-southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. ...
killed about 30 people. The target was an Italian military base; 19 of the dead were
Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...
. *November 20: A suicide truck bomb exploded outside the office of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ku, یەکێتیی نیشتمانیی کوردستان, translit=Yekîtiya Nîştimanî ya Kurdistanê) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK descri ...
, a US-allied Kurdish
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in
Kirkuk Kirkuk ( ar, كركوك, ku, کەرکووک, translit=Kerkûk, , tr, Kerkük) is a city in Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate, located north of Baghdad. The city is home to a diverse population of Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds ...
. Four people were killed and 30 wounded. *November 22: Two suicide car bombers struck police stations in the towns of Khan Bani Saad and
Baquba Baqubah ( ar, بَعْقُوبَة; BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate. The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated populatio ...
almost simultaneously, killing at least 18 people and leaving over 30 wounded. *November 29: Seven
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
agents of the
Centro Nacional de Inteligencia National Intelligence Centre may refer to: * National Intelligence Centre (Mexico) * National Intelligence Centre (Spain) The National Intelligence Centre ( es, Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, CNI) is the Spanish official intelligence agency ...
were killed in an
ambush An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind moun ...
at
Latifiya Latifiya ( ar, اللطيفية), named after Latifiya river, is an Iraqi town south of Baghdad, between Mahmoudiyah, Iraq, Mahmoudiyah and Iskandariya, inhabited originally by 97,043 people. It has a mix of Sunni and Shia Muslim population, and s ...
.


December

*December 9: Suicide bombers, one in a car and another on foot, blew themselves up at the gates of two US military bases, wounding 61 American soldiers. *December 10: Three suicide bombers attacked the HQ of the
82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops Magazine'', 25 November 2012. Archived from tho ...
in
Ramadi Ramadi ( ar, ٱلرَّمَادِي ''Ar-Ramādī''; also formerly rendered as ''Rumadiyah'' or ''Rumadiya'') is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad and west of Fallujah. It is the capital and largest city of Al Anbar Governorate w ...
. One US soldier died and 14 others were wounded. *December 14: Hours before the US military announced that they captured
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
, a suspected suicide car bomber killed 16 police officers and two
civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...
s outside a police station in Khaldiya, 60 miles west of Baghdad. *December 15: On the northern outskirts of the Iraqi capital, a suicide bomber driving a four-wheel-drive taxi killed eight policemen at their station in Husainiyah. Just hours before, in the Ameriyah neighbourhood of the city, eight policemen were injured by another suicide car bomber. *December 17: A suicide truck bomber, who was trying to attack a police station in the al-Bayaa district of Baghdad, collided with a bus at an
intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, thei ...
killing at least ten people and wounding 20. *December 18: A VBIED attacked a civilian
convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
on MSR Hershey at approximately 0700 hours as they were leaving their encampment to go to work near
Bayji Baiji ( ar, بَيْجِي, Bayjī; also spelled Bayji) is a city of about 173,677 inhabitants in northern Iraq. It is located some 130 miles (209 km) north of Baghdad, on the main road to Mosul. It is a major industrial centre best known for its ...
. A
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
n
armored personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Ac ...
was destroyed in the process. Several injuries, but no US personnel - military or civilian - were killed. *December 24: A suicide bombing killed four and wounds over 100 at the Interior Ministry offices in Arbil. *December 27:
2003 Karbala bombings The 2003 Karbala bombings consisted of four suicide attacks on the coalition military barracks in Karbala, Iraq, south of Baghdad on December 27, 2003. The attackers targeted two coalition bases and a downtown Iraqi police station where U.S. ...
: Five Bulgarian soldiers and two Thai soldiers were among 19 people killed and 18 injured in a coordinated attack on
coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...
military bases in
Karbala Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governor ...
. Four suicide car bombers struck a Bulgarian base, a compound containing the
city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
and police HQ, and a multinational
logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
base run by Polish, Thai, and American soldiers. *December 31: Five Iraqis are killed and at least 21 people were injured by a car bomb which targeted a restaurant popular with
Westerners The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
in Baghdad. At least three buildings were destroyed by the explosion.


References

{{Terrorist incidents in Iraq during the Second Iraq War and Iraqi insurgency (2011–present)
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...