Attackers strike Iraq Green Zone

Initial reports said eight people died in the attacks at the Green Zone bazaar and cafe, both locations popular with soldiers and civilians alike.

The US military revised this down to five, including three American civilians. Two US soldiers and two civilians were among the wounded.

The nationalities of the other dead and injured are not known.

A hospital source within the zone told Reuters: "There were body parts scattered everywhere."

Casualties were taken to a US military hospital inside the zone.

The Green Zone, home to about 10,000 Iraqis and where the US and UK embassies are also located, is often targeted, but usually from missiles fired from outside.

However, a bomb was defused outside a popular restaurant in the zone earlier this month, prompting the British embassy to advise its staff to avoid all restaurants.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3742498.stm

The audacious attacks on a souvenir bazaar and a cafe frequented by U.S. troops and civilians were the first suicide bombings inside what is supposed to be the safest place in Iraq.

A U.S. military official said 18 people were wounded in the blasts, including three U.S. military personnel and a U.S. civilian. He did not give the nationalities of the other casualties. All three Americans killed were civilians.

The military had earlier put the toll at eight dead.

The sprawling Green Zone, in Saddam Hussein's former presidential compound, houses government offices and the U.S. and British embassies. It is protected by towering concrete blast walls and U.S. troops in sandbagged posts.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6502933

Late last night, the foreign office issued a warning advising British nationals to stay away from the cafe in light of the attempted bombing. After today's blasts, the US embassy strongly encouraged Americans living or working in the green zone to limit their movements, travel in groups, carry several means of communication and avoid the bazaar and restaurants inside the compound.

Earlier today, an improvised bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad, killing one US soldier and wounding two others, the US command said. No further details were disclosed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1327382,00.html