Central Baghdad pounded by militants
At least 25 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded some of them when a US helicopter fired at crowds around a burning military vehicle.
Elsewhere, a suicide attacker detonated an explosives-packed vehicle at the gates of Abu Ghraib prison, killing himself but causing no other casualties, the US military said. American guards fired at the vehicle before the driver could reach the gate, the military said.
Tawhid and Jihad, a militant group linked to al-Qaida and led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it carried out yesterday's coordinated campaign of violence in Baghdad the Abu Ghraib bombing, the mortar barrage and attacks on central Haifa Street.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged that the US-led coalition faces a "difficult time" in Iraq but said the United States has a plan to quash the insurgency raging in several Iraqi cities and bring those areas under control in time for national elections in January.
Rockets and mortars began raining down before dawn on the Green Zone, which houses Iraqi and U S offices, and other parts of central Baghdad.
As the shelling continued after sunrise, US troops backed by armoured vehicles moved into the streets searching for the attackers.
A Bradley fighting vehicle rushing down Haifa Street to assist a US patrol was disabled by a car bomb. The four US crewmen inside escaped with minor injuries but came under small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire and called for air support, US officials said.
Jubilant fighters and young boys swarmed around the burning vehicle, dancing, cheering and hurling firebombs.
Several young men placed a black banner of Tawhid and Jihad in the barrel of the Bradley's main gun.
Suddenly, a US Kiowa helicopter fired on the Bradley, trying to destroy it to prevent insurgents from looting weapons and ammunition on board, the military said.
Witnesses said several people milling around the Bradley, including a correspondent for the Arabic language Al-Arabiya television station, were killed.
An Iraqi cameraman working for the Reuters news agency and a freelance photographer were also wounded.
Elsewhere, the police chief in the west Baghdad district of Yarmouk was killed yesterday in a bomb attack while on patrol in the district, the Interior Ministry said. Colonel Alaa Bashir and another officer died on the spot, said ministry spokesman Col Adnan Abdul-Rahman.
Clashes also occurred in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 20 others, hospital officials said.
A statement purportedly from the Islamic Jihad Organisation threatened yesterday that Italian aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta would be killed unless Italian troops withdrew.
The two were seized at gunpoint in Baghdad on Tuesday along with two Iraqi colleagues.
"We will extend our deadline 24 hours from the issue of this statement after that if we don't see Italian soldiers withdrawing from Iraq we will implement execution," said the statement on a website often used by militant groups.
On Saturday, a US Army soldier was sentenced to eight months confinement after admitting abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison.
He is the first Military Intelligence soldier to stand trial in the scandal that has so far focused upon prison guard reservists.
Specialist Armin J Cruz, of Plano, Texas, was assigned to the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion at the grim jail on the western edge of Baghdad. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to maltreatment of prisoners.
The military judge, Colonel James Pohl, sentenced Cruz to eight months confinement, reduction in rank and bad conduct discharge.
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