Insurgents have fired at least three mortars or rockets at the heart of the US-led administration in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, wounding four people in the second brazen attack on the compound in as many nights.
The explosions shook the city yesterday, with the concussion felt by reporters at a hotel on the opposite side of the river Tigris.
American military combat casualties also climbed on Tuesday to 252 since the invasion when a roadside bomb killed one soldier and wounded two troops in Baghdad. British combat deaths rose to 52 with the report of a Royal Marine killed by hostile fire during a military operation last Friday.
And in a setback to American hopes of stabilising Iraq, key political ally Spain said it was recalling some embassy and other staff following last week's bombing of the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations in Baghdad in which 35 people were killed.
A US army spokesman in Baghdad said there were three blasts on Tuesday evening. He said the wounded were from US-occupation forces, although it was not known if they were military.
"Three were taken to hospital inside the green zone and one was treated at the scene," said the spokesman.
The blasts occurred inside the US-controlled "green zone", a sprawling area formerly home to one of Saddam Hussein's palaces and which includes US military bases and the headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) ruling Iraq, guards said.
US-led forces ousted Saddam in April.
"There were a lot of soldiers running around, there was a lot of panic," said Mohammad Shikri, the Iraqi guard at the complex. Journalists were prevented from entering the area.