More Iraqi civilians killed by defending fire

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, September 28, 2003

More Iraqi civilians killed by defending fire

More Iraqi civilians were killed by the defending fire from the US occupying forces as a hotel housing American officers was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades in central Baghdad on Saturday.

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More Iraqi civilians were killed by the defending fire from the US occupying forces as a hotel housing American officers was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades in central Baghdad on Saturday.

Local residents said unknown fighters launched the grenades in the middle of a street at the al-Rashid hotel and the nearby Convention Center, where the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)press center is located.

Later the US military confirmed the grenades fired around 6:40 am (0240 GMT) reached the hotel and caused minor damages but no casualties.

Lt. Col. George Krivo told a press conference that "three or four shells" hit the vicinity of the hotel but said the military was "not sure yet what the instrument was."

The al-Rashid hotel, once the most luxurious hotel to take in foreigners, has been used to house the US military officials and civilian support staff since they captured Baghdad in April.

It appeared to be the first time a building standing inside the heavily fortified CPA compound came under effective attack.

Asked if the US military was to enhance the defense, coalition spokesman Charles Heatley said "security is constantly under review and we will continue to do that."

Baghdad has witnessed a series of morning attacks in recent days.

On Thursday morning, a bomb blast destroyed a ground floor room of the al-Aike Hotel in central Baghdad, killing a Somali employee and injuring an Iraqi and one of the NBC journalists based in the hotel.

A day before, a roadside bomb went off in the divider of a mainroad in northern Baghdad, damaging two passing mini-buses, killinga passenger and injuring a dozen others. Local police said the target must have been a passing US patrol.

On Monday, a suicide car bomber detonated himself at a parking lot 200 meters from the UN's Canal Hotel headquarters, killing an Iraqi policeman and injured 20 others.

But Krivo denied the claim that there was a surge in the attacks, insisting that the number of attacks in the past 60-90 days remained in mid-twenties.

"Certainly they are more public, they are more reported and they are more in the media and the targets have changed," he added.

He said in the past few day the US forces encountered 24 attacks, operated 19 raids, conducted 1,699 patrols and uncovered more caches of weapons.

However, the troops continued to cause innocent casualties in the restive town of Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad, something further alienated the dominant Sunni Muslims residing in the area.

The military said American soldiers guarding at a checkpoint Saturday fired on two cars that tried to run through, killing at least two Iraqi civilians and injured four others.

Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV channel reported four were killed andfive injured in the shooting. The Arab television also showed a footage of a teenage girl among the wounded.

Dozens of people flooded into a hospital to donate their blood for the wounded after clerics at a local mosque urged them to do so.

A crowd chanted anti-American slogans as they carried the body of a killed person out of the hospital.

Resentment against the US forces has simmered in Fallujah sinceeight Iraqi policemen were killed by US fire at a checkpoint in the city on Sept. 12.

A Jordanian guard was also killed in the "friendly fire" incident, which the injured Iraqi policemen said was like an ambush.

Pledging to probe into Saturday's shooting, the US military also drew back a conclusion made on Sept. 12 "friendly fire" incident, confirming the investigation will go on.

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