Iraqi terrorist uses live explosives during training lesson, blows up himself and 21 others

An Iraqi terrorist group leader accidentally killed himself and 21 students as an explosive detonated killing the group, reports the NY Times.

The Islamic militants belonged to a network now known as the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida linked group that controls the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.

BBC reports the explosives-filled vehicle was being escorted from the insurgents’ compound to a main road when it blew up. The leader unwittingly used a belt packed with live explosives.

The dead instructor has not been named, but he was described as an experienced operative who specialized in training and recruitment.

The terrorists in training were attending a lesson on making car bombs and explosive belts when a glitch set off one of the devices during the car bomb part of the demonstration.

“What happened today was not death, but it was life to us,” Mr. Hashim said to the Times. “Those 22 who were killed today might have killed hundreds of Iraqis, hundreds of innocent souls. May they burn in hell.”

Car bombs are one of the deadliest weapons used by this group, with coordinated waves of explosions regularly leaving scores dead in Baghdad and elsewhere across the country.

Image/CIA