Late Tuesday night an insurgent mortar demolished Forward Orperations Base Falcon in the south of Baghdad. You can be forgiven for having missed it- it's gotten suprisingly little attention by major print media. It's fared better on the teevee, understandably, as the video is quite dramatic.
I won't pretend to be expert in the minutia of the Iraq debacle, or of military matters, generally, but below the fold I'll round up what information I've found in news and other sources about the incident.
Tuesday at 10:40 pm (Iraq), Forward Operating Base Falcon was hit by an 82mm mortar round, igniting munitions stored there. The resulting fire burned into the next afternoon, with munitions "cooking off" dramatically through the night. ["Cooking off" is, I presume, the preferred euphemism for rockets, mortars, and bullets- when subjected to intense heat or fire- launching themselves in whatever the fuck direction they happen to be pointing.] It shook buildings from a distance of more than 4 miles, and was compared for intensity to the initial "shock & awe" attacks on Baghdad. Islamic Army in Iraq has claimed responsibility, saying they fired "two rockets and three mortar shells," though that night government officials had gone on tv to quash "rumors" that it was an insurgent attack.
FOB Falcon is located in the Dora neighborhood of south Baghdad, described as an industrial region. The nearest residential, Abu T-Shir, is 600 yards away; AFP reports that exploding ordnance fell in 5 districts of the city, yet, incredibly, no neighborhoods were reported evacuated. Soldiers from Falcon are engaged in sweeps of neighborhoods considered to be insurgent strongholds, which leads me to assume that this nearby neighborhood was the source of the attack and is not safe enough for police and US military to evacuate.
Military reports claim that the attack has no affect on these sweeps operations, and there were no casualties:
"The attack does not affect ongoing Baghdad security operations in the focus areas, and the loss of ammunition will not degrade the operational capability of the" U.S. forces in Baghdad, he said. "The base's essential services were not disrupted."
(Rising, AP)
sources:
Here's video of the "fire" shot from 4 miles away: (CNN- sorry, you'll have to search videos for "ammo")
David Rising, of AP
Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
AFP
Global Security.org
Some questions that perhaps others with more specialized knowledge/experience can answer:
How impressive is an 82mm mortar? How rarely or commonly is it used by insurgents?
Could insurgents have built it themselves, or was it likely bought (and from whom) or stolen?
Luck shot, or was FOB Falcon vulnerable?
Is it really possible that there are no casualties on the base (see video above)?