Rockets Fired Into the Heart of Baghdad

Rockets Fired Into the Heart of Baghdad
Resistant groups fired rockets at the headquarters of the U.S.-led administration in central Baghdad Tuesday and loudspeakers ordered personnel in the compound to take cover as explosions echoed across the Iraqi capital. "Attack. Take cover. This is not a test," warned loudspeakers at the compound in one of Saddam Hussein's former palace complexes. Sirens wailed, flares lit up the night sky and U.S. helicopters clattered overhead. A spokesman for the U.S. 1st Armored Division which patrols Baghdad said at least two rockets had been fired. One crashed through the roof of an empty apartment building near the coalition compound and another landed near a bus station. "There are no reports of U.S. soldiers being injured, or of civilian casualties" the spokesman said. But he said two Iraqi police were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack near a Baghdad petrol station. Resistant attacks in Iraq have become increasingly brazen. Saturday, a DHL cargo plane made an emergency landing in Baghdad with an engine on fire after being hit by a surface-to-air missile. A video tape delivered to a French journalist apparently showed the missile being fired. The footage showed several men with their faces concealed by scarves, carrying grenade and missile launchers. One aimed a shoulder-fired missile at a plane. The attackers were shown escaping by car, and the tape then showed a plane descending with smoke pouring from one wing. **Attacks on U.S. Troops Down *** A top U.S. general said earlier Tuesday that tougher U.S. tactics had halved the number of attacks on his forces in Iraq in the past two weeks, but that assaults on Iraqis had surged. General John Abizaid told a news conference U.S. forces had stepped up operations to counter a rise in resistant activity. "These offensive actions in the past two weeks have actually driven down attacks on coalition forces ... I would say the attacks are down by about half," he said. "But unfortunately we have found that attacks against Iraqis have increased." **U.S. Says More Troops Not Needed *** Resistant groups fighting the occupation have killed 183 U.S. troops since Washington declared major combat over on May 1, according to the latest Pentagon figures. Washington blames the attacks on fighters loyal to Saddam and foreign Muslim militants. The United States has about 130,000 troops in Iraq, but some Congressmen say more are needed to curb the 'insurgency'. Abizaid, however, said there were enough troops on the ground. Asked whether U.S.-led forces were facing a coordinated guerrilla campaign, Abizaid said there were a number of cells operating countrywide, mainly in urban areas. "There is some indication of regional coordination between the cells. We haven't really seen what I would call levels of national coordination, although that remains unknown," he said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Followers of Iraqi Shi'ite scholar Moqtada Al Sadr pray in front of U.S. army tank during Islam's biggest festival Eid al-Fitr, ending the fasting month of Ramadan, in the Baghdad suburb of Al Sadr city November 25, 2003.

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