Powerful explosion heard in central Baghdad

A powerful explosion shook Baghdad today, rattling windows in the centre of the city, but there were no immediate indications…

A powerful explosion shook Baghdad today, rattling windows in the centre of the city, but there were no immediate indications of damage or what may have caused the blast.

A US military spokeswoman could not immediately say whether it was a controlled explosion. The US military carries out several controlled detonations every day, destroying ordnance gathered from the former regime.

But in the past week anti-American insurgents have also attacked buildings in or near the US military and political headquarters in the heart of Baghdad known as the Green Zone.

On Monday, several Katyusha rockets were fired from a car at buildings near the foreign ministry, on the edge of the Green Zone, and also at the Rashid Hotel, which is inside the Green Zone and used as offices and a dining room by the US-led coalition.

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One person was slightly wounded in those attacks.