U.S. military: Four killed in explosion near coalition headquarters

BAGHDAD, Iraq — An explosion destroyed a civilian car with armor plating Monday near an entrance to the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killing four people. The British Foreign Office said two of the dead were British citizens.

About an hour after the 2 p.m. blast, a rocket or mortar round landed in the Green Zone, which houses the coalition headquarters, the coalition press office said. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

Several more blasts were heard in central Baghdad at 4 p.m. Witnesses said a mortar shell had landed in the city's Karrada district, and another slightly damaged the roof of a school in Salihiya district. There were no reports of casualties at the school.

In the car explosion, American soldiers tried to pull the men from the shattered vehicle and quickly sealed off the area, said witness Kamel Raji. The blast occurred near one of the main entrances to the Green Zone.

In London, the Foreign Office said two British citizens were killed and one other person was injured. It gave no further details.

U.S. Army Col. John Murray confirmed four deaths, and said an American medical unit was treating two injured people.

"We don't think it was a suicide bomber. We are still talking to eyewitnesses," Murray said, adding that the car had armor plating.

Mohammed Naem, a noncommissioned police officer who saw the car explode, said the vehicle was a bulletproof Toyota Land Cruiser en route to the convention center in the Green Zone.

Taxi driver Mohammed Saleh said he was about 20 yards away and heard shooting after the explosion.

"I saw the roof of the car flying," he said.

Ali Salman, who works at a nearby restaurant, said the car was in a convoy, and two men in an accompanying car started "haphazardly shooting."

"The passengers got out and started shooting and then raced off," said Salman, who sought shelter behind a pillar.

It was the latest in a series of deadly assaults in the Iraqi capital.

On Saturday, a suicide car bomber killed four people and slightly wounded a deputy interior minister. On May 17, the president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Izzadine Saleem, was killed along with at least six other people near the coalition headquarters.

Elsewhere, clashes between U.S. forces and fighters loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr overnight in the holy city of Najaf left at least one person dead and 20 injured, a hospital official said.

The toll was likely to rise because ambulances had been dispatched to recover more casualties, according to the official, Fadhil Abbas. He also said the hospital was waiting for relatives of four people killed in clashes the previous night to identify the bodies.

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