Several rockets were fired at a Baghdad hotel complex housing foreign journalists and businessmen on Friday, scoring a direct hit on the Sheraton hotel and wounding up to four Iraqis, a United States soldier and witnesses said.
A minivan containing nine improvised rocket-launchers exploded midway through the attack, destroying the van, US soldiers said.
A videotape and statement sent to the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera later claimed responsibility in the name of the “Karbala Brigades”.
“The vehicle pulled up in range of the Sheraton hotel and fired a series of rockets toward it,” said a US army captain, who would give his name only as Mayo.
“At some point during the attack, evidently the ordnance on the vehicle exploded.”
The rockets were fired across central Baghdad’s Firdoos Square, a symbol of the fall of Saddam Hussein where his statue was pulled down in April last year.
The attack came one day after the ousted strongman appeared in court to hear charges of crimes against humanity.
The statement from the “Karbala Brigades” shown by Al-Jazeera warned that such attacks would continue “until the last foreign soldier leaves Iraqi soil”.
“Our armed operations will not target Iraqi police or other officials as long as they are working for the Iraqi people and maintaining security,” said the statement, which was accompanied by video footage of armed militants, of which the Qatar-based television station showed a short clip.
A kitchen worker at a social club on Firdoos Square was badly wounded by shrapnel from the attack.
Three civilian workers at the nearby high-security Baghdad hotel were also hurt, apparently as a falling rocket hit a car, security officials there said.
A cook at the Al-Wiayha social club said the shrapnel had nearly cost his colleague a leg.
“He was sitting outside waiting for me and a piece of the rocket hit him in the leg and nearly took his leg off,” said the cook, who asked to remain anonymous.
Foreign guests on the 10th floor of the Sheraton were saved only by masonry, which took the full impact of the blast, damaging the stonework and smashing windows but not causing any serious damage.
“I was asleep when I heard a big bang. It was 7.32am,” said one guest, who preferred not to be identified.
“The people in both rooms are shaken but fine,” he said, referring to the two rooms nearest the impact point.
A hotel supervisor said the attack was the sixth direct hit on the Sheraton since last August.
“The stonework prevented the rocket from coming inside so there were no victims,” said night manager Hussein Hadi.
The hotel, which shares a highly fortified complex with the adjacent Palestine hotel, has previously been targeted by insurgents using rockets or mortar rounds. — Sapa-AFP
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