One killed as rockets go off target

Insurgents fired rockets at a government building in Basra in southern Iraq early today, hitting nearby homes instead and killing one person. Seven people were wounded.

The attacks were directed at the province’s main offices near the centre of the city, where British troops are stationed.

The insurgents “missed and hit nearby homes instead", said Captain Mushtaq Khaled of Basra Police.

The condition of the wounded was not immediately known.