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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rick Faurot who wrote (33608)	12/25/2003 10:49:55 AM
From: Rick Faurot	Respond to of 89467

Guerrillas Hammer Baghdad, Bomb Kills U.S. Soldier Thu December 25, 2003 08:09 AM ET By Nadim Ladki BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-American guerrillas sent more than a dozen rockets and mortar rounds slamming into Baghdad on Christmas Day, hitting hotels, embassies and the vicinity of the U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq. The bombings, the widest in scale in the Iraqi capital since the December 13 capture of Saddam Hussein, followed warnings of a wave of spectacular attacks during the holiday season. The U.S. military said an American soldier had been killed by a roadside bomb in the capital on Wednesday, raising the death toll to four in attacks that day. Two hotels used by Westerners and an apartment block were struck, as well as the area where the headquarters of the U.S.-led administration is situated. Guerrillas fired rockets that hit the outside wall of the Iranian embassy, the Turkish embassy and a residential building next to the German embassy. The rockets blew a hole in the front wall of the Turkish mission and shattered windows but caused little damage in the other blasts, witnesses said. A rocket missed the Interior Ministry and landed in a nearby street, witnesses said. Only one woman was wounded in the attacks that took place around sunrise. The slain American soldier brought to 206 the number of U.S. military deaths from hostile fire since Washington announced the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1. Washington blames attacks on Saddam supporters and foreign Islamic militants. Officials had warned insurgents would launch fierce attacks during the Christmas holiday season. The bombings added to the gloom surrounding Christmas celebrations. Baghdad churches did not hold the traditional midnight mass for lack of security, clerics said. Hundreds from the Christian minority attended masses on Thursday morning, alarmed by the violence gripping their city. "REGULAR DAY" The lift area between the eighth and ninth floors of the Ishtar Sheraton Hotel was struck. Debris and shattered glass littered the hotel's lobby. A manager at the hotel said there were no casualties. The hotel, where U.S. contractors and Western journalists stay, was hit in another attack late on Wednesday, but once again there were no casualties. "This is a regular day for us," said U.S. First Lieutenant Kurt Muniz, as he led several soldiers on a foot patrol in the area. He said the attackers left behind leaflets urging staff at the Ishtar Sheraton to stop working at the hotel and demanding U.S. forces leave Iraq. Another rocket hit the Bourj al-Hayat Hotel, also used by Americans. The hotel was used by U.N. weapons inspectors before the war. No one was hurt. At the apartment block, Samar Zeid, 20, said: "We were sleeping when we heard a large explosion. My mother was taken to hospital." The attack damaged his parents' bedroom. A neighbor said he saw a car speeding away from a nearby street immediately after the attack. A U.S. military spokesman said three or four rockets struck in the vicinity of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority complex in the center of Baghdad on the western bank of the river Tigris. Warning sirens sounded several times at the complex, which was once one of Saddam's palaces. The all-clear was sounded some two hours after the attacks. Three U.S. soldiers died in a bomb blast north of Baghdad on Wednesday and a suicide car bomber killed himself and four other people in northern Iraq. U.S. aircraft and artillery pounded suspected guerrilla hideouts in southern Baghdad for a second night. Blasts and heavy machinegun fire echoed across the city as the U.S. military's Operation Iron Grip went on into early Thursday to flush out suspected guerrillas. U.S. soldiers have arrested hundreds of suspected guerrillas and their backers in raids across the Sunni Muslim heartland west and north of Baghdad since Saddam was captured on December 13 in his home town of Tikrit. The Sunni minority dominated Iraq under Saddam's rule. He repressed the majority Shi'ite Muslims during his three decades in power.