Suicide Truck Bomber Kills Two U.S. Troops in Iraq

CNN is reporting that one soldier died at the scene as a result of the blast, while a second soldier later died at a hospital from wounds sustained in the attack. The division commander at the outpost, Major General J.D. Thurman is said to have visited the wounded soldiers in the hospital, shortly following the attack. According to the U.S. command in Baghdad, six of the wounded soldiers had already been returned to duty as of Thursday night.

A news crew from CNN was coincidentally at the closest field hospital when the call was received that a large number of casualties were inbound. The footage from CNN.com showed a number of U.S. troops in with varying degrees of wounds entering the hospital and treatments being administered by the hospital staff.

At this point, there is speculation as to how the truck being driven by the suicide bomber was able to breach the security around the outpost and get close enough to inflict such widespread casualties amongst the troops stationed there. CNN also noted that some of the casualties were brought in wearing sneakers and other non-combat gear. One of the soldiers informed them that many of the wounded were resting at the time of the attack in preparation for their patrol to begin later in the day. This would seem to indicate that the suicide bomber was able to gain some level of penetration into the outpost, perhaps with the help of some kind of trickery or disguise to fool the outer-most defenses.

If in fact this is the case, it would be in stark contrast to Tuesday's attack on the U.S. Embassy in Syria, where a bomb-laden truck and several terrorists were repelled before they were able to reach any sensitive areas of the complex.

The most recent attack brought the total number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 2671. The CNN report also noted that Major General J.D. Thurman was at the bedside of at least one U.S. soldier following the attack, eventually asking the attending physician whether that soldier would be okay. The doctor replied that, in fact, he would be okay. No doubt, a small consolation for the commanding officer of two more U.S. soldiers killed in the line of duty.