The Jordanian embassy bombing was the deadliest attack in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad in March 2003.
Key Facts
- Date
- 7 August 2003
- Deaths
- 17 people
- Injured
- Dozens people
- Bomb concealed in
- Minibus
- Police officers killed
- 6 officers
- Time of explosion
- Approximately 11:00am local time
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In the volatile post-invasion environment following the fall of Baghdad in March 2003, armed groups carried out attacks against foreign diplomatic and military targets. The Jordanian embassy was targeted amid broader anti-coalition and anti-allied-government sentiment, with Jordan seen as a Western-aligned state.
On 7 August 2003, a bomb concealed in a minibus exploded outside the Jordanian embassy compound in Baghdad at around 11:00am local time. The blast killed 17 people, including six embassy guards and several women and children nearby, and injured dozens more. The explosion was powerful enough to hurl a car onto a nearby rooftop.
Immediately after the explosion, a crowd of Iraqis stormed and ransacked the embassy compound, burning portraits of King Abdullah II and chanting anti-Jordanian slogans. US commander Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez described the attack as the worst in Iraq since the capture of Baghdad, highlighting the deteriorating security situation in the country.