Re: Rocket blast shakes U.S. embassy in Iraq

Israel Reuters
January 27, 2007

Rocket blast shakes U.S. embassy in Iraq - witness

Baghdad -- A rocket was fired into the international Green Zone in
Baghdad on Saturday and a witness said it appeared to have landed in
the U.S. embassy grounds.

U.S. embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said a rocket landed in a sparsely
populated area of the Green Zone and that two people were slightly
wounded. He said he could not confirm that it landed within the U.S.
embassy compound.

"The embassy is functioning normally", he said, adding that the two
injured were not embassy staff.

Loudspeaker warnings urged people to take cover. "This is not a
drill", the warning said.

The witness who was inside the U.S. embassy, a large complex within
the Green Zone centered around one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces,
had no details on whether there were casualties.

The U.S. military had no immediate information.

Several people in the Green Zone said they had heard what may have
been a mortar or rocket go past, but could not say where it landed.

A double rocket attack on the Green Zone wounded six people earlier
this week. The area, which stretches over several square kilometers
houses Iraqi government offices, embassies and other foreign
facilities.

Mortars and rockets frequently hit the area and usually do not cause
casualties.

Saturday's loud blast shook windows across the river from the Green
Zone in the central district of Karrada.

* Reuters was founded by Israel Josaphat Reuter, a Jewish immigrant to
London who as early as 1851 began transmitting stock-market quotes
between Paris and London via the new Calais-Dover telegraph cable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Reuter
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27913407.htm

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