M A I N   N E W S

US coalition HQ attacked, one Iraqi killed

Baghdad, March 21
At least one person was killed and several wounded today as the US coalition headquarters in Baghdad came under a rocket attack, pushing Iraq into its second year of occupation amid a rising wave of violence.

In a flurry of early reports, officials said that one Iraqi had been killed and around 13 wounded when three rockets landed in and around the compound, the so-called Green Zone, at about 9.45 am (1215 IST).

One hit a traffic circle near the Mansour neighbourhood close to the line of the heavily guarded compound, a second hit nearby and a third landed in Freedom Rest, a recreation area inside for US troops, a military spokeswoman said.

“We have (military) reports that one US soldier received minor injuries, while sadly two Iraqis were killed and five injured,” the spokeswoman told AFP.

Buildings shook in the so-called Green Zone, which is frequently hit by rocket attacks. People inside the main conference centre there screamed and ran to the basement when the blasts were heard, an AFP correspondent reported.

“The Green Zone is a known target... they (attackers) understand they are not going to get a tremendous amount of casualties; they are trying to create terror,” a senior military official said.

Earlier, hospital officials said an explosion on a crossroad of the former Baghdad International Fair in the Mansour neighborhood killed one Iraqi.

Overnight, two US soldiers were killed and seven wounded in a rocket attack near the restive Iraqi city of Fallujah, 50 km west of here, said a military official.

PESHAWAR: Thirteen persons were killed when a rocket hit a private vehicle in a tribal area of Pakistan near the Afghan border where army troops have surrounded 500 diehard Al-Qaida fighters, an official said.

“Thirteen persons were killed when a rocket aimed at Pakistani troops missed its target and hit private vehicles in the area behind the military positions,” tribal areas security chief Brig Mehmood Shah said.

He rejected reports that the civilians were killed by Pakistan army fire.

Shah said the dead included five women, five men and three children, while seven others were injured.

He said the incident occurred in the northwestern South Waziristan area and the army helicopter flights over the area had stopped.

“There is no possibility that a helicopter fire caused the casualties,” Shah said.

Earlier, officials said US combat helicopters had intruded into Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan and accidentally fired on a vehicle carrying local tribesmen.

WANA: Pakistan today interrogated over 100 fighters arrested in its fiercest-ever battle with Al-Qaida suspects and their local tribal supporters.

Military intelligence agencies were questioning Uzbeks, Chechens, Arabs and local Pashtun tribesmen arrested during a bitter four-day assault on Al-Qaida hideouts.

“They are being interrogated by military intelligence experts,” military spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said. — AFP, PTI