At an American checkpoint in Najaf, Iraq, on March 29, 2003, “a taxi approached. The driver stopped at the roadblock and waved for help, indicating his car had broken down. Four American soldiers approached, and ordered him out of the car, so they could search it. When the driver followed the troops’ orders to open the trunk, the car exploded with a huge white blast, killing all of the Americans and the driver. It was the first successful suicide bombing of the war, and it seemed an ominous new portent.”
– Todd S. Purdum and The New York Times Staff, A Time of Our Choosing, Page 179