Zaranj, Afghanistan, is a relatively peaceful town near the border with Iran. But when a suicide bomber struck a convoy there in April, WSJ's Michael M. Phillips found himself in the middle of a harrowing firefight. He shares his eyewitness account of the bravery and the tragedy that followed.
Under Attack -- Wall Street Journal
When a suicide bomber struck a convoy in Afghanistan, a routine Marine patrol turned into a harrowing firefight. Michael M. Phillips with an eyewitness account of bravery and tragedy in the confusion of war.
When the suicide bomber exploded, the world skidded to a stop. The Afghan police pickup truck, 30 yards directly behind us, disappeared in a geyser of thick gray-brown smoke. The only visible object was its hood flying through the air, a black silhouette against the murk, followed by the sound of broken glass falling. Then the smoke thinned, like the curtain rising on a stage, revealing the chaos the bomber had set loose.
The pickup truck wasn't where it was supposed to be. The blast had hoisted it into the air and dropped it onto the median strip. There was a moment's hesitation among the troops next to me in the lead pickup. A lone motorcyclist emerged from the cloud, inexplicably upright and seemingly uninjured.
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My Comment: A must read on the ground action report from Afghanistan.
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