Roadside bomb targets US convoy

Rebels detonated a roadside bomb as a US convoy drove by a densely-populated residential area in central Baghdad today, killing one Iraqi and wounding another. No US troops were injured, witesses said.

A US military Humvee was parked askew in the middle of the road shortly after the blast in the Karrada neighbourhood, beside a shattered concrete central reservation where the bomb appeared to have been planted.

The explosion cracked windows on the street lined with shops selling vegetables and groceries.

“They’ve not killed any Americans, just Iraqis as usual. We consider it terrorism,” shopkeeper Karim Abbas said bitterly.

Roadside bombs have become the preferred weapon of anti-American guerrillas who cannot match the overwhelming firepower of the US-led coalition in Iraq.