Anti-American militants sent more than a dozen rockets and mortar rounds slamming into Baghdad on Christmas Day, hitting hotels, embassies and the vicinity of the US-led occupation authority in Iraq.
The bombings, the widest in scale in the Iraqi capital since the December 13th capture of Saddam Hussein, followed warnings of a wave of spectacular attacks during the holiday season.
The US military said an American soldier had been killed by a roadside bomb in the capital yesterday, raising the death toll to four in attacks that day.
Two hotels used by Westerners and an apartment block were struck, as well as the area where the headquarters of the US-led administration is situated.
Guerrillas fired rockets that hit the outside wall of the Iranian embassy, the Turkish embassy and a residential building next to the German embassy. The rockets blew a hole in the front wall of the Turkish mission and shattered windows but caused little damage in the other blasts, witnesses said.
A rocket missed the Interior Ministry and landed in a nearby street, witnesses said. Only one woman was wounded in the attacks that took place around sunrise. The slain American soldier brought to 206 the number of U.S. military deaths from hostile fire since Washington announced the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1st.
Washington blames attacks on Saddam supporters and foreign Islamic militants. Officials had warned insurgents would launch fierce attacks during the Christmas holiday season.
The bombings added to the gloom surrounding Christmas celebrations.
Baghdad churches did not hold the traditional midnight mass for lack of security, clerics said. Hundreds from the Christian minority attended masses on this morning, alarmed by the violence gripping their city.