Baghdad Bomb Squad

Overview

nreported World gains unprecedented and exclusive access to the Baghdad Bomb Squad. Nine years after the invasion and with the British and the Americans gone, Iraq still faces almost daily attacks from those trying to foment political chaos and sectarian hatred. Reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy and director Alex Nott spend time with a small band of brave Iraqi officers trying to prevent further murderous attacks. With modest resources and great courage in the face of terrible danger, four 12-man squads work around the clock defusing bombs or investigating crime scenes where a device has detonated. The Unreported World team joins one team as they begin a morning shift, when the bombers are at their busiest. Twenty-nine year old officer Rawad Yassin, who has already spent six years in the bomb squad, tells Guru-Murthy that his family have urged him to leave the unit but he feels a responsibility to his fellow officers. Travelling in convoy they are called out to the suburb of Karrada. They believe they are heading to an unexploded device but on arrival find the aftermath of detonated device. The target was a senior military commander in charge of the Ministry of Communications Protection Force. Several of his staff have been killed, and more than a dozen injured. As the team head off, reports come in of other bombings around Baghdad. Another unit finds an unexploded device right outside Iraq's Oil Ministry. Unreported World reveals extraordinary footage showing how a 'sticky bomb', which is fixed under the car of a Brigadier General, is made safe. In the last two years more than 30 bomb disposal experts have been killed across Iraq. Guru-Murthy speaks to someone close to one of those killed trying to defuse a vehicle bomb. Ali Hameed shows Guru-Murthy video footage of the incident which left his partner Ali Latif with terrible injuries. Hameed says since the incident he's been living with severe psychological stress. The bomb squad believes Sunni extremists known as 'Al Qaeda in Iraq' are behind most of the bombings. The violence is deepening the sectarian divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Most targets are Shia, and Shia leaders including the Prime Minister accuse Sunni politicians of complicity. In turn Sunni leaders claim Shia are blaming them so Iraq can be dominated by the Shia. Guru-Murthy highlights how Sunnis feel wrongly blamed and persecuted. They want nothing to do with Al Qaeda but feel cut out of power by the Shia led government. The team speaks to one of the most powerful Sunni tribal leaders - Sheikh Ali Al Hatam. Five years ago he ordered his men to stop fighting the Americans and turn on Al Qaeda. Now he feels betrayed and believes the Shia government is using the current bombing campaign as an excuse to increase discrimination against Sunnis. He fears the result will be further terrible sectarian violence. In the week Unreported World is in Baghdad the bomb squad save many lives but across the country some 30 bombs explode and more than a hundred people are killed. When US troops withdrew in December, President Obama said they'd left Iraq stable and democratic. The Bomb Squad know that stability is still elusive. As Lieutenant Jassim Hamad Saleh says over shocking footage showing when he was injured in a bomb blast... 'Our work is a sacrifice, dealing with bombs means going to meet death. Death normally comes to people, but we go to death'.