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Army Times reporter Matthew Cox describes attack

Aug- 2-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Embedded reporter Matthew Cox was injured today during a suicide car bomb attack. Photographer James J. Lee took a number of pictures of the scene following the attack. Start here and scroll forward through the gallery.

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By Matthew Cox, Times staff writer

AL BU HARDEN, Iraq — I heard the two shots from Spc. Eddie Martinez’s M16 rifle, but I had no idea he was firing at a suicide car-bomber steering straight for us.

It was about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 1 and Army Times photographer James Lee and I were standing near the rear ramp of B Company commander Capt. Mark Ivezaj’s Stryker combat vehicle.

I heard the “Pop, pop” of Martinez’s weapon and then a deafening roar before a tremendous force knocked me to my hands and knees. The suicide bomber had detonated his white Suburban packed full of explosives fewer than 25 feet away from the front end of the Stryker.

It was hard to see anything. Dust, earth, gravel and car parts flew everywhere.

I knew something had exploded, but I was in a daze. My first instinct was to crawl for cover, but I was so disoriented I didn’t know where to go.

A sharp, tingling pain bit into my lower left leg. And I kept hearing a shrill ringing noise in both ears.

The next thing I remember was standing up and looking at James, who also had been knocked off his feet but now in the Stryker waving me inside.

I got inside. Ivezaj, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment company, stopped on his way out the door make sure James and I were OK. It seemed like everyone was yelling.

Outside the Stryker, blackened vehicle parts littered the road. James yelled for me to check the back of his neck for burns. It looked OK, I told him.

Then Martinez, who had been standing in the left rear “air guard” hatch, began holding his bleeding hand outstretched and yelling something.

“He needs a bandage!” James shouted, handing me a cravat he’d been using as a sweat rag.

I grabbed the rag and started wrapping it around Martinez’s fingers. My hands were shaking.

His account continues...

Related Article:

Army Times reporter Matthew Cox wounded in Iraq - Army Times


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