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U.S. headquarters in Baghdad attacked

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA DEC. 12. Undeterred by the recent U.S. offensive, the Iraqi resistance fighters attacked the headquarters of the American occupation in Baghdad with mortar shells this morning. No one was injured and only minor damage to the buildings was reported. However, the strike was significant because it demonstrated once again that the Iraqi fighters were capable of targeting the best-defended U.S. sites in the Iraqi capital. The mortar attack took place in the "green zone," the seat of the U.S. power in Iraq.

Iraqi fighters attacked the Rashid hotel in September, which is also in the Green Zone, narrowly missing the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Paul Wolfowitz, who was staying there then.

In a separate incident, a U.S. soldier was killed on Thursday and 14 others were wounded when three suicide bombers travelling in a truck blew themselves up at the gates of a U.S. army base in the restive town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. This was the third suicide attack, which the Iraqi resistance had mounted in a week against American military bases.

An estimated 61 U.S. troops were injured in two suicide bombings — one near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and another close to Baghdad on Tuesday.

Journalists injured

Meanwhile, two American journalists were injured yesterday when the army vehicle in which they were travelling came under a grenade attack. Michael Weisskopf, a senior correspondent for Time and photographer, James Nachtwey, were wounded in the incident.

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