Baghdad blasts kill 20 in attack on media hotel

THREE massive vehicle bombs exploded yesterday near Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, home to many Western journalists, killing at least 20 people.

Dramatic TV pictures showed one of the bombers driving a cement truck through the concrete blast walls that guard the hotel, then blowing up his vehicle.

Iraq's national security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, said the attack which appeared well planned was a "very clear" effort to take over the hotel and seize journalists as hostages.

One of the car bombs exploded near the police position on the northeast side of Firdous Square, where a statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003 shortly after the fall of Baghdad, and more than 100 yards east of the hotel. Security officials said a third bomb struck the area around the same time. All three were believed to be suicide attacks.

"Three cars came from three different roads in succession to create security breaches for terrorists," al-Rubaie told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding that they were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and light arms.

"The plan was very clear to us, which was to take security control over the two hotels, and to take the foreign and Arab journalists as hostages to use them as a bargain."

The US military said no US troops were injured. It counted 10 dead Iraqis.

The security adviser said at least 40 people were injured, most of them passers-by. Another official, Deputy Interior Minister Hussein Kamal, said four or five Iraqi police were killed.

APTN footage showed that one of three vehicle bombers had penetrated the concrete blast walls surrounding the hotel compound before exploding.

The cement mixer exploded in a huge ball of flame and a cloud of smoke.

Iraqi security officials said the blasts occurred two minutes apart, not long before Muslims marking the Islamic holy month of Ramadan were preparing to break their daylong fast. Shortly before the explosion, a truck came under fire nearby, APTN said.

The attacks caused heavy damage to the south side of the 19-storey Palestine Hotel, forcing journalists, including those from AP, Fox News and the US government-funded Alhurra TV to take refuge in the corridor. Fox and Alhurra said their employees were safe.

Inside, light fixtures were blown out, pictures were blasted off the walls and windows were shattered.

Moments before the second blast, journalists, photographers and technicians were walking up and down hazy corridors in a state of confusion, urging each other to remain calm, put on flak jackets, and to stay away from windows.

Thicker clouds of smoke filled the far end of one hallway, with many people coughing and waving their hands.