Iraqi insurgents bombarded the fortified headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad early today, the first attack on the compound since US forces launched a mass anti-guerrilla offensive a month ago.
In Washington, President George W. Bush's administration was braced for a possible legal battle over its decision to bar France, Germany, Russia and other countries that opposed the Iraq war from participating in its reconstruction.
Shortly after midnight in Baghdad, several loud booms shook the city. Sirens wailed and loudspeakers warned residents inside the headquarters complex to take evasive action.
The US military could not immediately confirm what sort of munitions were fired, but sources said mortars were probably used to hammer the five kilometre square (two square mile) area, known as the Green Zone, on the banks of the Tigris river.
"There were four points of impact within the Green Zone," a US military spokeswoman said today. "Two coalition force members were slightly wounded from flying debris, but the injuries are not life-threatening."
One building in the area, which comprises dozens of palaces once part of Saddam Hussein's presidential compound, was slightly damaged. Smoke billowed from two locations.
It was the first bombardment on the headquarters, which is protected by two-metre-high concrete walls, since mid-November when guerrillas fired on the area several nights running. It was also the first assault on the complex since US forces launched a major counteroffensive against insurgents last month.
The attack came after a suicide car bomb blast on a US military base west of Baghdad which killed one US soldier and wounded 14, three of them seriously. It was the third suicide attack on US forces in Iraq this week.
Since the start of the war to oust Saddam, 311 US soldiers have been killed in action, 196 of them in guerrilla attacks since major combat was declared over on May 1st.