On January 9, 2005, a 27-man team of Kazakh sappers from the Kazbat engineer battalion collected 35 aerial bombs that Iraqi police had found stashed near the central military base of Al-Suwaira, located 6 miles south of Baghdad. The bombs were loaded onto transport trucks from where they would be defused at the Al-Suwaira Multinational Division Central-South army base.

Events

At 12:05 a.m, the trucks reached the base and a Ukrainian back-up team from the 72nd mechanized battalion assisted the sappers in unloading the explosives from the transport vehicles. While this was happening an explosive rigged between two of the aerial bombs detonated itself, caused a mass explosion that killed 8 Ukrainian troops and a Kazakh sapper, while also wounding 10 others of varying degrees, including 6 Ukrainians and 4 Kazakhs. Among the dead was a 72nd Battalion lieutenant colonel. Following the incident, the

Islamic Army in Iraq The Islamic Army in Iraq (, IAI) was an underground Islamist militant organization formed in Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S.-led Coalition forces, and the subsequent collapse of the Ba'athist regime headed by Saddam Hussein. ...

claimed responsibility for the explosion. According to the Ukrainian contingent commander in Iraq, Major General Serhii Popko, there were reports of men sitting in a car and surveying the troops unload the charges before the blast, and then quickly speeding away afterwards. This caused speculation as to whether the IED was triggered remotely. In reaction to the deaths, Ukrainian president

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (, ; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine, serving from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only president of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by demo ...

called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. This was the primary cause that led to the direct pullout of 1,650 Ukrainian troops in December 2005. The Kazakh mission pulled out in 2008, suffering its sole fatality.

References

{{coord missing, Iraq Bombings in the Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) Terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2005 2005 in Ukraine Mass murder in 2005 Leonid Kuchma January 2005 in Iraq Ukraine in the Iraq War Poland in the Iraq War Wasit Governorate in the Iraq War Car and truck bombings in Iraq Car and truck bombings in 2005 2005 in international relations Islamic terrorism in Iraq Islamic terrorist incidents in 2005 Military history of Kazakhstan Gas explosions in Iraq 2005 industrial disasters