Swampscott man hurt in Iraq bombing

SWAMPSCOTT – A Swampscott man was injured Monday in an explosion by a suicide bomber in Iraq.Palmer Phillips, 32, a graduate of Swampscott High School, and a former soldier who now works for the State Department in Iraq, suffered injuries to his face during an attack by a suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi army uniform in the violent city of Baqouba, 35 miles north of Baghdad.The incident killed three Iraqi civilians and wounded at least eight American soldiers as well as three Iraqi policemen and other people during a visit with the mayor of Baqouba, Abdullah al-Hiyali.Swampscott Veterans Agent James Schultz spoke with Palmer’s father, David Phillips, the former mayor of Lynn (1974-75), late Monday.”He (Palmer) was with the mayor of a city (Baqouba) north of Baghdad,” he said. “One of the individuals in the group of people they were walking with was a suicide bomber. The suicide bomber blew himself and some other people up. Palmer suffered shrapnel wounds to the face.”Police officials said the bomber’s disguise as a soldier is a tactic previously used to pass through checkpoints, although U.S. forces have also been attacked by members of Iraqi security forces.The bombing occurred as a group of Iraqi officials, led by Mayor al-Hiyali, waited at the main gate of the municipal building to greet the U.S. soldiers.While violence is reportedly down in Iraq, a gradual rise in recent attacks has many worried that the apparent calm may not last.Schultz said David Phillips told him his son, who completed three tours in the Middle East, was en route to a hospital in Germany where he would undergo surgery.According to Palmer’s brother Dean, Palmer had been a captain in the U.S. Army and left the military in 2007.”In December he went back to Iraq as a civilian,” he said. “He was working for the State Department helping them rebuild.”Schultz said the Phillips family asked the media to respect their privacy and that David Phillips is making arrangements to fly to Germany to be with his son.The Phillips family is well known on the North Shore. David Phillips was mayor of Lynn for one term before being defeated by former mayor Antonio Marino, and is also an author and held several other posts in Lynn, Beverly, and Swampscott.Palmer Phillips, who has a twin brother Eben, ran for a seat as a Town Meeting member at 18 years old in 1995.