19 August 2009 Baghdad bombings

The 19 August 2009 Baghdad bombings were three coordinated car bomb attacks and a number of mortar strikes in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The explosives went off simultaneously across the capital at approximately 10:45 in the morning, killing at least 101 and wounding at least 565, making it the deadliest attack since the 14 August 2007 Yazidi communities bombings in northern Iraq which killed almost 800 people. The bombings were targeted at both government and privately owned buildings.

The windows were blown out and the doors were taken out, even the door frames went. If I had been in my room at the time I would have been seriously injured or worse. Everything is locked down now. Nobody can move anywhere, nobody is getting in or out. Even our security team cannot move.

The bombings occurred on the six-year anniversary of the bombing of the United Nations compound in Baghdad, which killed the UN's then-coordinator of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, Sérgio Vieira de Mello. The capture of two Al-Qaeda members in a car intended to be used as another bomb led officials to believe they were part of a coordinated attack. The attack began in early mid-morning, when a truck bomb exploded outside the Iraqi Finance Ministry. A larger explosion followed outside the Foreign Ministry, accompanied by mortar attacks on the secure Green Zone. The bombing shattered windows, killing those near them, and also brought down the compound wall across the street from the truck bomb. The foreign ministry explosion alone killed 58 people, and left a crater 3 metres (9.8 ft) deep and 10 metres (33 ft) wide. The next car bomb killed at least eight people and wounded at least 22 as it devastated a combined Iraqi army-police patrol near the Finance Ministry. Two bombings in distant areas of the city, one in the commercial Baiyaa district killing two and wounding 16, the other in the Bab al-Muadham district killing six and wounding 24. One targeted the Rasheed Hotel, blowing out windows and door frames. Several mortars fell inside the Green Zone's perimeter, one near the UN compound, where aid workers were meeting to discuss the "growing danger" facing aid groups. the mortars were not confirmed by C-RAM IZ or any other US military.