Rockets hit hotel as soldiers killed

EXPLOSIONS and gunfire erupted last night outside hotels housing foreigners and journalists in downtown Baghdad, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Security guards at the Palestine hotel said two rockets hit the outside of the nearby Sheraton hotel. There was no indication of a fire inside the Sheraton, although a palm tree burned outside.

The fire was believed to have been caused by one of several projectiles that landed in the compound surrounded by a concrete wall. Tracers streaked across the night sky.