Police station targetted in Baghdad mortar blast

Thunderous explosions rocked central Baghdad today and it was reported a police station had been hit by mortar fire.

Officials said insurgents fired rockets from an apartment building at the police station and other buildings, setting off huge explosions and wounding American soldiers.

The rockets missed the police station but exploded at another building and a car park.

Hassan Joma, an Iraqi anti-terror official, said two US soldiers were injured on the roof of the building.

Several large blasts and some gunfire were heard.

Police sealed off Saadoun Street, which includes the square where the statue of Saddam Hussein was hauled down when US troops entered the Iraqi capital last April.

A US helicopter landed in the square and evacuated at least one wounded person as American troops and military vehicles provided security.

Earlier a car bomb exploded in front of the al-Garman hotel, near the Australian embassy in the Jadrya district

Some reports said four people were killed.