Rich Miniter of Pajamas Media reported yesterday from the International Zone, where the Iraqi Parliament was hit by a suicide bomber:

Even though the blast was less than 15 feet away through a wall, it sounded like a dull thud followed a small tremor.

I was in the shower at 2:30 PM — my first in days — when the bomb inside the nearby convention center went off. The center is used by the Iraqi parliament.

There was no shouting or sounds of panic in the first few moments. More like quiet astonishment. The Green Zone is supposed to be an island of safety.

As I hustled into my clothes, one marine called to another in the bivouac: “Was that another mortar?”

“That was no mortar,” the other said.

I ran after them and clambered over the green-sandbagged concrete wall that had sheltered the CPIC (Combined Press Information Center) from the brunt of the blast. The ambulances were pulling up along with armored humvees.

I roamed widely, taking in the scene and talking to eyewitnesses.

Every embedded journalist has to check in at CPIC for credentials. For scene-setting, here’s are a few photos I took at the CPIC office in January:

Rich describes the chaos after the bombing as mostly Peruvian guards rounded up everyone in the building and kept them in a pen. Still, he was able to interview eyewitnesses and gather info:

Witnesses told me that it was definitely a suicide-bomber attack. One Iraqi said that the bomber had removed the armored plates from a standard body armor vest and replaced them with explosives. Other witnesses, in somewhat broken English, would not confirm that account.

No one could agree on what the bomber looked like, aside from the fact he was a dark-haired male.

The witnesses I was able to talk to through the chain-link fence of the holding pen said that the bomber seemed to linger at the edge of second-floor cafeteria until a seat at the center table opened up. Then he calmly walked to that table and sat down. The explosion followed in seconds.

The U.S. Embassy translator, an Iraqi with a trim mustache and a baseball cap, confirmed that the bomber selected the center table in order to maximize casualties.

Read the whole thing.

Allah’s comprehensive coverage of developments yesterday.

The latest: Iraqi lawmakers express outrage and resolve in a special session today.

The death toll has been revised down to one.

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