At 6:34 the Council of Ministries located in the Mountainlair complex was attacked by bombs fired from outside the Green Zone walls followed by surprise gunfire.The attack came 34 minutes into ousted mayor al-Tamimi's speech on his politics and removal from office. The former mayor was back in Morganhdad to discuss a peaceable solution to his forced removal from office and to the problems facing Morganhdad. Just as al-Tamimi was about to name his ousters bombs dropped onto the Mountainlair complex from above. The bombs, now identified as explosively formed projectiles, seem to be the same ones used by the very people al-Tamimi was pointing the finger at. The group of Shi'ite rebels who supported city councilman Mazin Makkiya and participated in the overthrowing of al-Tamimi have been known to use similar weapons in their alleged attacks. Nothing has been proven to this point and police fear the trail may have gone cold as it often does in attacks of this nature. "When you live in a war-torn area, where civilians are forced into silence by overly powerful officials, the trail often goes cold and no one will talk." said former mayor al-Tamimi from a hospital bed in Ruby Hospital. The mayor was transported to Ruby after receiving triage care by American Red Cross workers on site. He is currently in stable condition but will remain in an undisclosed location for a full recovery. Several civilians were not as lucky. Many students of West Virginia University were in attendance at the speech despite a city-wide curfew of 8pm that has recently been put in place. Although not breaking curfew, the students were obviously pushing it to hear the mayor's ideas for peace. One such student was WVU Biology senior Anah Rahim. Rahim was found dead in the debris of the bombing almost an hour after the attack by his friend, Sean Young.
"We were here anxious to hear what the former mayor had to say about peace. We thought peace might be on the way...I just never expected this." said Young only hours after finding his friend among the rubble of the Council of Ministries.
Another young civilian, Barika Faridah, was found by a red cross worker at the scene with both of her legs missing. Faridah was marked in critical condition by triage but nothing could be done for the young Muslim woman. The attack on the Council of Ministries comes just days after the threat of attack at former President Clinton's speech. According to officials, the hint that led to the movement of Clinton's speech may have in fact been for al-Tamimi's speech instead.
