Up to 10 dead after Baghdad blast

Up to 10 people were reported to have been killed tonight in a car bomb attack on a hotel in the centre of Baghdad.

The blast at the Jibral Lebanon hotel came on the day US forces launched Operation Iron Promise to find insurgents and capture illegal weapons in the Iraqi capital.

Rescuers were pulling bodies out of the hotel which had been virtually destroyed by the massive blast.

Flames shot skyward, and heavy smoke rose behind a central square from the area of the blast.

Trees were on fire, and flames jumped to nearby buildings. Eight cars were on fire, and one vehicle was hurled by the blast into a store.

Ambulances raced to the scene. Two US soldiers tried to help pull bodies from the wreckage, but angry Iraqis pushed them back.

The blast shook the nearby Palestine Hotel, where many foreign contractors and journalists are based.

The explosion occurred behind Firdaus Square, where a bronze statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down last April with the help of US Marines who had just entered the centre of Baghdad.

The area of the blast, Karrada, is a mix of residential and commercial buildings.