8 Die in New Year's Car Bomb Blast in Iraq

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

BAGHDAD, Iraq Jan. 1 — The death toll rose to eight in a car bomb attack that destroyed a Baghdad restaurant crowded with New Year's Eve revelers, officials said Thursday. Three Los Angeles Times reporters were among the 35 wounded.
No group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's bombing, which came despite tightened security amid warnings of possible holiday terror attacks.

"The glass came flying. Everything else blew up. People were blown apart," said Basam Sarhan, a 25-year-old baker working in the kitchen at the back of the Nabil restaurant, located in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood.

The Los Angeles Times said three of its reporters and five local staff members suffered cuts and other wounds that did not appear life-threatening.

The reporters were Chris Kraul, from the newspaper's Mexico City bureau; Tracy Wilkinson, the paper's Rome bureau chief; and correspondent Ann Simmons, who formerly was the Times' bureau chief in Nairobi, Kenya. Also suffering minor injuries were three Iraqi drivers, a translator and a computer technician employed by the Times.

More: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040101_480.html

This is an expansion on previous stories.

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