Rockets hit downtown Baghdad compound

A Baghdad hotel housing foreign contractors and journalists was struck by rockets this morning, drawing return fire and underscoring the precarious security situation in the heart of the Iraqi capital.

Outside Baghdad, roadside bombings killed two more American soldiers.

Early today, US aircraft attacked what the US command said was a hideout of terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Fallujah.

The military said “credible intelligence sources” reported terrorist leaders were meeting there.

A Fallujah doctor said the attack killed 10 people, including a groom on his wedding night, and wounded the bride and 16 others. Residents reported several other strong explosions in the insurgent stronghold through the night.

The latest attacks came as an aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr offered to disarm his Mahdi Army militia in a move that could bring an end to weeks of fighting in Baghdad’s Shiite district Sadr City.

The government cautiously welcomed the offer and suggested other militant groups also lay down their arms.

Three Katyusha rockets slammed into the Sheraton hotel, the Interior Ministry said, triggering thunderous explosions, shattering windows and setting off small fires.

Dazed guests, including Western journalists, contractors and a bride and groom on their wedding night stumbled to safety through the smoke and debris.

“I made a mistake by booking at the Sheraton,” said Hayer Abdul Zahra, holding his shivering bride under his arm. “I knew something like this would happen.”

There were no deaths or serious injuries, Iraqi officials said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said the rockets were fired from the back of a minibus parked near Firdous Square.

A fourth rocket blew up inside the vehicle, he said, as security guards responded with ear-shattering volleys of automatic weapons and machine gun fire.