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BAGHDAD, Iraq - About 11 mortar rounds exploded in central Baghdad on Sunday, including three that hit the heavily guarded Green Zone, killing at least six Iraqi civilians and wounding two, police said. The Iraqis were just entering the Green Zone at about 8 a.m. after making their way through several heavily guarded checkpoints when three mortars exploded just inside it, said police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq. He said it was hard to identify the six fatalities because the powerful explosions and shrapnel from the mortars severed their limbs and destroyed their identification cards. But he said one of the wounded...

U.S. Confirms Thwarted Al Qaeda Attack on Green Zone Wednesday, March 15, 2006 BAGHDAD, Iraq — Testifying on Capitol Hill today, General John Abizaid said claims by Iraq's Interior Ministry that Al Qaeda terrorists tried to storm the highly secured Green Zone in Baghdad where the U.S. and British embassies are located were true. Abizaid was asked about the reported plot that allegedly involved more than 400 Al Qaeda operatives infiltrating Iraqi Security Forces and taking over guard posts around the Green Zone which is also the seat of the Iraqi government. "I think you can look at it that...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi interior minister said Tuesday that authorities had foiled an al-Qaida plot that would have put hundreds of its men at critical guard posts around Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. and other foreign embassies as well as the Iraqi government. A senior Defense Ministry official said the 421 al-Qaida fighters were actually recruited to storm the U.S. and British embassies and take hostages. Several ranking Defense Ministry officials have been jailed in the plot, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Interior Minister Bayan Jabr,...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A large explosion rocked central Baghdad on Sunday and smoke was seen rising from inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear and sirens were heard wailing across the Green Zone area.

A large explosion was head in downtown Baghdad within minutes of the polls opening and sirens could be heard inside the heavily fortified Green Zone where the Iraqi government and the U.S. and British embassies are located. Police said the explosion apparently was caused by a mortar landing near the Green Zone.

American troops are developing a hate-hate relation with journalists. The basic problem is that soldiers and marines in Iraq have access, usually via the Internet, to what the mass media is saying about what they think is happening in Iraq. These news reports, all too often, do not reflect what the troops experience. It gets uglier when the troops realize that reporters are spending most of their time in the Green Zone or some well guarded hotel, leaving it to local Iraqi stringers to collect information and photos for the reporters stories. Relations are a bit better with the few...

ALARM - Attack commits suicide close of the green green Zone in Baghdad: victims BAGHDAD - an attack commits suicide with the booby-trapped car was made Monday morning close to an entry of the green Zone, the perimeter ultra-protected from the center of Baghdad, making victims, according to a source of safety.

The following are excerpts from a speech by the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi.... "...This battle came at this time in order to cover up the scandal of Allah's enemy, Bush, in dealing with what was left behind by one of Allah's soldiers – the devastating Hurricane Katrina, which revealed to the entire world the great helplessness in dealing with the destruction caused by this hurricane, because of the tremendous attrition of the American army's resources in Iraq and Afghanistan. This hurricane has once again brought to mind the manifestations of racial discrimination among the American people,...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi lawmaker accused a U.S. soldier of grabbing him by the throat and shoving him to the ground Tuesday after he parked his car in Baghdad's Green Zone. Fattah al-Sheikh, an independent, said he had parked his car before a session of parliament when U.S. troops approached him and told him he didn't have the right permit. He said a soldier then kicked his car, insulted him and grabbed him by the throat with both hands as others looked on, before tying his hands behind his back with white plastic cuffs and shoving him to the...

Ahmed Resain has his back to the door, so he does not see the gunman alight from a car outside his rudimentary Al Pasha hairdressing salon, in Baghdad's dusty Al-Salam quarter. The assailant strides deliberately into the shop and coldly turns to face Ahmed. He presses a pistol to the stunned barber's lower lip, carefully angling the weapon to ensure that the bullet exits through his left jaw. Ahmed, 37, is still standing - but three shots to his legs as the gunman makes his getaway drop him to the floor in a pool of his own blood. His survival...

2 dead 16 injured, as per Fox news

In the center of Bagdad there is a fierce firing. RBC. 29.01.2005, Bagdad 11:13:22. In the center of Bagdad there is a fierce firing. As transfers AR, collisions, on all visibilities, occur in area, adjoining to so-called to " a green zone " where the headquarters of coalition armies and the majority of the governmental buildings are located. Now there machine-gun and automatic shooting is audible. Other details yet are not informed.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the second major assault on Baghdad's police force in two days, two car bombs exploded next to an Iraqi police station just outside Baghdad's Green Zone on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding 59, mostly police. Insurgents killed 16 officers in an attack the day before. The U.S. military said two car bombs exploded at about 9:30 a.m. near a checkpoint leading to the heavily fortified area, which houses the offices of Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim government and several foreign missions, including the U.S. Embassy. Only one blast was heard at the time, suggesting...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) A large explosion and machine gun fire rocked Baghdad's Green Zone on Saturday, sending a black cloud of smoke into the air. The explosion occurred at about 9:30 a.m. near the area that houses the offices of the interim Iraqi government and several foreign missions, including the U.S. Embassy. ''The explosion was a very large one, but at this stage we don't know what it was yet that caused it,'' U.S. Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan said.

CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ--At most of the dining facilities at this sprawling American military base next to the Baghdad airport, the grapes look awful, the steak is all gristle, and the desserts, well, never mind. But at the Pegasus chow hall here, such culinary misdemeanors simply aren't tolerated. Every afternoon, Joe Pradarits culls the bad fruit from the good to create a gorgeous platter of watermelon, pineapple, kiwi, and, yes, purely perfect grapes. Then there's the Sunday prime rib. Ed Sholes III marinates that baby for two full days, then cooks it up medium rare and slices it as thick as...

...[A] number of disparate, but related, events indicate that the political and military momentum is shifting to the Coalition and Iraqi side.... NATO forces: In a significant diplomatic victory last Wednesday, the NATO defense ministers, meeting in Romania, agreed to increase the group's military training contingent in Iraq from 40 to 300 by year's end. The new military advisers (most likely initially from Denmark and Norway) will be deployed to a center outside Baghdad to train Iraqi military officers. The NATO trainers will help boost the number of Iraqi forces from the current 100,000 to a projected 145,000 by next...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A Connecticut civilian hired to protect American diplomats was among at least five people killed Thursday when two insurgents detonated explosives-laden bags at a shopping bazaar and restaurant inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. The two lunchtime blasts marked the first time insurgents have penetrated the heavily protected area that is the seat of the Iraqi government and home to American officials. Iraq's most feared terror group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the midday blasts and said they were suicide attacks, according to a statement posted on a website known for its Islamic...

Two explosions rocked Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone in quick succession Thursday and a U.S. military spokesman said initial reports showed eight dead and four wounded. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the midday blasts inside the compound, which houses key U.S. and Iraqi government offices, said Lt. Col. James Hutton, a spokesman for the 1st Cavalry Division. Maj. Phil Smith of the 1st Cavalry said in one location, six people were killed and three were wounded. Two were killed and one was injured at the other, he said. U.S. officials said all the victims were civilians but they would...

'Eight dead' in Iraq's Green Zone It is rare for attacks on the Green Zone to cause casualties Eight civilians are thought to have been killed and four wounded in an attack on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, the US military says. A column of smoke rose above the zone after two loud blasts were heard. US forces blamed "indirect attacks" - jargon for mortars or rockets. Casualties were taken to a US military hospital inside the area. Insurgents have frequently attacked the Green Zone, targeting Iraqi government offices and US forces. The area, which also houses the US and...

A loud explosion has shaken the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. A plume of smoke was seen rising from near a fortified area housing the Iraqi government and the US embassy, an area known as the Green Zone. The blast was caused by a car bomb targeting a convoy carrying Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan, according to the AFP news agency. A car bomb exploded in the same area on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring about 40.