Coalition HQ targeted in rocket attack

Rebels fired a rocket tonight at the headquarters of the US-led coalition after gunmen killed seven Iraqi policemen in attacks west of Baghdad.

Strong explosions reverberated through the heart of the capital, followed by sirens and a recorded message warning those in the coalition headquarters compound known as the green zone to “take cover”.

A coalition spokesman said at least one rocket, apparently fired from across the Tigris, exploded in a car park near the Republican Palace, used by administrator Paul Bremer and senior coalition staff, but caused no damage or casualties.

The attack occurred three days after a UN security assessment team arrived in Baghdad to determine whether it is safe for the United Nations to return its international staff to Iraq.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan withdrew international staff last year following two vehicle bombings against the UN headquarters here, including the August 19 attack that killed 22 people, including the top UN envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

The attack on the green zone took place a day after the seven policemen were killed in two separate attacks at checkpoints around the city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad in the Sunni Triangle, a centre of resistance to the US-run occupation. Iraqi police who reported the attacks made no mention of any insurgent casualties.

Attacks against US forces and their Iraqi allies have persisted despite the arrest of Saddam Hussein, who was captured near his hometown of Tikrit. Many of the victims have been Iraqi civilians.

Elsewhere, two bombs exploded at the US military base in Kirkuk, Iraqi police said, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.

Earlier, the government minister in charge of internal security blamed al Qaida for some of the attacks, especially suicide car bombings throughout the country. “There is a presence of al Qaida in this country,” Interior Minister Nouri Badran said. “We’ve announced that directly and indirectly. A lot of the suicide attacks have the fingerprints of the crimes committed by al Qaida.”

Badran offered no specific evidence to support his claim, and US military officials have said they believe the overwhelming majority of attacks have been the work of Iraqis loyal to Saddam.

However, a US official in Washington said that Kurdish forces had captured a senior al Qaida figure on Saturday as he tried to enter northern Iraq. Hassan Ghul, a senior facilitator in Osama bin Laden’s terror network, was turned over to the United States and is being interrogated at an undisclosed location, the official said.

President George W Bush today praised Ghul’s capture, saying it was an example of “further progress in making America more secure.”

Bush told an audience in Little Rock, Arkansas, that Ghul reported directly to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was captured last March near Islamabad, Pakistan.

“He was a killer,” Bush said of Ghul. “He was moving money and messages around South Asia and the Middle East to other al Qaida leaders. He was a part of this network of haters that we’re dismantling.”

In Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, divers and patrol boats searched the Tigris throughout the day for the three missing soldiers. One of the three disappeared when a patrol boat capsized on Sunday, killing two Iraqi policemen and an Iraqi translator accompanying the American soldiers.

A Kiowa helicopter searching for the missing soldier crashed in the river hours later after witnesses said it struck a cable. The wreckage of the helicopter was recovered, but the two crew members were still unaccounted for.

The missing soldier from the boat is from the Stryker Brigade, which recently deployed to Iraq from Fort Lewis, Washington. The pilots are from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Drum, New York.