Iraqi soldiers throw themselves on suicide bomber during attack that killed 11, more lives would have been lost

Breitbart:

BAGHDAD (AP) - Three Iraqi soldiers threw themselves on a suicide attacker wearing an explosives vest at an Army Day celebration Sunday—an act of heroism the U.S. said likely prevented many more deaths. Iraqi police said at least 11 people were killed in the blast, the deadliest in a series of bombings in Baghdad. One of the attacks in the capital killed an American soldier—one of two U.S. deaths announced on Sunday.

Shortly before the bomber struck the Army Day festivities, about two dozen Iraqi soldiers were standing outside the offices of a local non- governmental agency pushing for unity in Iraq. The troops, their AK-47 rifles raised in the air, chanted pro-army slogans and a common anti-insurgent taunt: "Where are the terrorists today?"

Associated Press photographer Hadi Mizban was about five yards away from the suicideattacker when he blew himself up on a narrow street in the central Karradah area. "The blast happened as civilians were giving flowers to soldiers and sticking them in the muzzles of their guns," recalled Mizban, an Iraqi national. "It was a jubilant scene." Afterward, he said, the street was littered with bodies, weapons and shoes.