At least 12 Iraqis died today and dozens were injured when an arms dump exploded on the edge of Baghdad,sending missiles scything into nearby houses.
The US military said unknown attackers fired an incendiarydevice into an Iraqi munitions store at Zaafaraniya, a mixed residential and industrial suburb on the southern edge of the capital. However, residents blamedthe Americans for the carnage.
There was confusion over the exact death toll, but the main hospital in the district said at least 12 peoplehad been killed and 40 injured in the bomb. US Central Command in Qatar said at least six had died.
A series of loud explosions, lasting about an hour, were heard in the city centre. US troops said they were caused by controlled detonations to destroy Iraqi munitions as part of a continuing program.
But later at the scene, an officer told Reutersattackers had sparked the chain reaction by firing flares into the dump.
Local people said several people were believed to be still trapped in the rubble of a wrecked building, apparently hit by an errant surface-to-surface missile from the arms storage dump.
Whatever the precise cause, the incident seemed likely to hamper US efforts to win Iraqis' support for their presence, however pleased most people are to be rid of Saddam Hussein.
Scores of Iraqis angered by the explosion held an anti-American demonstration near the city centre Palestine Hotel, which is the base for much of the international media. "No to America, No to Saddam; Yes, Yes for an Islamic state," they chanted, led by a Muslim cleric with a megaphone.
Hundreds of men from the Zaafaraniya suburb drove out in trucks and buses chanting anti-US slogans and bearing six coffins, apparently containing the bodies of some of the dead from the explosions, which wrecked homes in the district.
Among banners in the crowd one, in English, read: "No Bombs Between Houses". In Arabic beneath was written: "Yes, Yes to Freedom". Another banner, in Islamic green, read in Arabic: "US forces kill innocents with Saddam's weapons".
US forces have destroyed large quantities of Iraqi munitions since taking the capital city on April 9th.
Agencies