Bombing at Iraqi Parliament Kills 8

Emergency services look for survivors next to a collapsed bridge in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 12, 2007. A suicide truck bomb exploded on a major al-Sarafiya bridge in Baghdad early Thursday, collapsing the steel structure and sending cars toppling into the Tigris river below, police and witnesses said. At least 10 people were killed and 26 injured, according to hospital officials. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) (Hadi Mizban - AP)

The video of the bombing was shot by Alhurra, a U.S. government-funded Arab-language channel.

Mohammed Abu Bakr, who heads the legislature's media department, said he saw the bomber's body amid the ghastly scene.

"I saw two legs in the middle of the cafeteria, and none of those killed or wounded lost their legs _ which means they must be the legs of the suicide attacker," he said.

The brazen bombing was the clearest evidence yet that militants can penetrate even the most secure locations. Masses of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are on the streets in the ninth week of the security crackdown in the capital; security measures have been significantly hardened inside the Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi government.

Earlier in the day, security officials brought dogs inside the building in a rare precaution _ apparently concerned that an attack might take place.

But a security scanner that checks pedestrians at the entrance to the Green Zone near the parliament building was not working Thursday, Abu Bakr said. People were searched only by hand and had to pass through metal detectors, he said.

The previously worst known attack in the Green Zone occurred Oct. 14, 2004, when insurgents detonated explosives at a market and cafe, killing six people. That was the first bombing in the sprawling area.

More recently, the U.S. military reported April 1 that two suicide vests were found in the Green Zone. A rocket attack last month killed two Americans, a soldier and a contractor. A few days earlier, a rocket landed within 100 yards of a building where U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was holding a news conference; no one was hurt.

The parliament building was built during Saddam Hussein's reign as a convention center. After the war, it served as a press center and provided offices for a variety of U.S. and international agencies. The explosion took place just a few steps away from the room where the U.S.-appointed occupation governor, L. Paul Bremer, announced "We got him!" after the capture of Saddam in a spider hole in December 2003.

Besides killing 10 people, Thursday's bombing of the al-Sarafiya bridge wounded 26, hospital officials said. But the death toll was feared to be much higher: Police tried but apparently failed to rescue as many as 20 people whose cars plummeted off one of Baghdad's nine Tigris River spans.

Waves lapped against twisted girders as patrol boats searched for survivors and U.S. helicopters flew overhead. Scuba divers donned flippers and waded in from the riverbanks.

Farhan al-Sudani, a 34-year-old Shiite businessman who lives near the bridge, said the blast woke him at dawn.

"A huge explosion shook our house and I thought it would demolish our house. My wife and I jumped immediately from our bed, grabbed our three kids and took them outside," he said.

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Associated Press Writers Bassem Mroue and Lauren Frayer contributed to this report.