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BAGHDAD - Rockets and mortars pounded Baghdad's U.S.-protected Green Zone Sunday and a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army post in the northern city of Mosul in a surge of attacks that killed at least 57 people nationwide. The latest violence underscored the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups as the war enters its sixth year and the U.S. death toll in the conflict approaches 4,000. Attacks in Baghdad probably stemmed from rising tensions between rival Shiite groups — some of whom may have been behind the Green Zone blasts. It was...

Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone was hit by a sustained barrage of rocket or mortar bomb fire early on Sunday and emergency sirens could be heard in the Iraqi capital's government and diplomatic compound. It was not immediately clear where most of the missiles landed or if there were any casualties after an apparent attack lasting about 15 minutes, Reuters witnesses said. The U.S. military has blamed past missile attacks on the Green Zone on rogue elements of anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. Sadr last month renewed a seven-month old ceasefire for his militia. A large plume of...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A barrage of mortar bombs or rockets hit Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone, home to the U.S. embassy and Iraqi government ministries, on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. A siren wailed in the Green Zone warning people to take cover amid a series of at least 10 explosions, Reuters reporters said. "I can confirm that we did receive indirect fire and that it was multiple rounds," said U.S. military spokesman Major Brad Leighton, referring further queries to the U.S. embassy. U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo refused to say whether there had...

BAGHDAD - A series of explosions thundered in the Iraqi capital Saturday morning, police said, including one from a mortar round that hit the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. One of the explosions was a roadside bomb that targeted a U.S. patrol in eastern Baghdad. A police officer said the blast site was sealed by American forces and there was no immediate way to detail damage or casualties. There was no immediate report of the incident from the U.S. military. Another police officer confirmed a mortar round hit the heavily protected Green Zone. The Americans did not report damage or casualties from...

Marine Brotherhood I saw something today that taught me volumes about the brotherhood of Marines. As I stood in line to grill my sandwich, I watched a young corporal preparing two meals to-go. There was nothing really special about the meals . . . except this. It was obvious to me that this Marine was carefully selecting different things for each tray. One was for him, the other was for his buddy who stood guard at the gate. He carefully selected meat and cheese, meticulously grilled and wrapped them, then chose sides. I was moved by the obvious care with...

BAGHDAD — The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, amid mounting public outrage over the alleged killing of civilians by the U.S. Embassy's security provider Blackwater USA. The move came even as the Iraqi government appeared to back down from statements Monday that it had permanently revoked Blackwater's license and would order its 1,000 personnel to leave the country — depriving American diplomats of security protection essential to operating in Baghdad. "We are not intending to stop them and revoke their license indefinitely...

The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militia crews firing mortars and rockets have been hitting Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone with more accuracy in the past three months because of training from Iran, a top U.S. general said on Thursday. "In the last three months we have seen a significant improvement in the capability of mortarmen and rocketeers to provide accurate fire into the Green Zone and other places," Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno told a news conference.

BAGHDAD, July 10 -- More than two dozen mortar shells pounded the Green Zone on Tuesday, killing three people, including a U.S. military member, and injuring 18, among them five Americans, U.S. officials said. The dead also included an Iraqi and a person of unknown nationality. Two of the wounded Americans were service members and three were contract employees, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. The attack, around 4 p.m., was the latest in a series of mortar and rocket strikes in recent months against the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and other Western missions along with...

BAGHDAD, July 10 (Reuters) - A major mortar and rocket attack on Baghdad's Green Zone compound on Tuesday killed at least three people, including one U.S. military service member, and wounded around 18 other people, the U.S. embassy said. The embassy said in a statement that five of the injured were U.S. citizens, including two service members and three contract employees. It was one of the biggest barrages against the heavily fortified zone.

When Spc. Matthew Curll left basic training for Iraq nearly a year ago, he traded a bland diet of MREs for burgers, pie and Fudgsicles. "You go from a lot of MREs and crappy stuff at the mess hall to prime rib on Sundays," said Curll, 21, of Lancaster, Mass., over a dinner of baked chicken followed by ice cream in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. "I wasn't expecting it at all," added Spc. Joe Reen, 23, of Norwood, Mass., finishing a turkey wrap and green salad. "You wanted to try everything." The two indulged at first, but said they learned...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, June 21 (Reuters) - A barrage of mortar bombs hit Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday and several plumes of smoke could be seen rising near buildings housing the Iraqi parliament and government offices, Reuters reporters said. On the other side of the river Tigris, a thick plume of black smoke could be seen near the area where a suicide truck bomb partly demolished a Shi'ite mosque and killed 87 people on Tuesday. The origin of the smoke was not immediately known. At least seven mortar rounds could be heard slamming into the Green Zone, which...

AFP via translation - ALARM - Iraq: 4 Filipino employees of the US embassy killed in an attack BAGHDAD - Four Filipino employees of the American embassy were killed Wednesday in the explosion of a rocket in the strengthened green Zone of Baghdad, announced Thursday the embassy in an official statement.

AFP via translation - Three explosions close to the place of the international conference in Baghdad BAGHDAD - Three explosions resounded Saturday near the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, where is taken place the international conference on Iraq, according to journalists of AFP on the spot. The blast of the explosions broke several panes of the ministry, where the representatives of 17 countries and international organizations are joined together, to try to put a term at violences. Iraqi soldiers present on the spot indicated that the explosions were caused by three mortar shells, which reached a building located at...

Deep inside the heart of the "Green Zone", the heavily fortified administrative compound in Baghdad, lies one of the most carefully guarded secrets of the war in Iraq. It is a cell from a small and anonymous British Army unit that goes by the deliberately meaningless name of the Joint Support Group (JSG), and it has proved to be one of the Coalition's most effective and deadly weapons in the fight against terror. Its members - servicemen and women of all ranks recruited from all three of the Armed Forces - are trained to turn hardened terrorists into coalition spies...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, Jan 27 (Reuters) - A loud explosion rocked central Baghdad on Saturday, prompting sirens and loudspeaker warnings in the international Green Zone and sending up a large plume of white smoke inside the heavily fortified area. Loudspeaker warnings urged people to take cover. "This is not a drill," the warning said. Several people in the Green Zone said they had heard what may have been a mortar or rocket go past, but could not say where it landed. ~ snip ~

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A huge explosion rocked central Baghdad just be for sunset Thursday and a massive plume of black smoke was rising into the air along the east bank of the Tigris River. The blast occurred shortly after two heavy mortar shells slammed into the heavily fortified Green Zone. The public address system inside the zone, where the U.S. Embassy is located, could be heard warning in English that people should take cover, "this is not a drill." ~ snip ~

James Baker's "Iraq Study Group" seems to have been cast on the same basis as Liza Minnelli's last wedding. A stellar lineup: Donna Summer, Mickey Rooney, the Doobie Brothers, Gina Lollobrigida, Michael Jackson, Mia Farrow, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Jill St. John. That's Liza's wedding, not the Baker Commission. But at both gatherings everyone who was anyone was there, no matter how long ago it was they were anyone. So the fabulous Baker boy was accompanied by Clinton officials Leon Panetta and Bill Perry, Clinton golfing buddy Vernon Jordan, Clinton's fellow sex fiend Chuck Robb, the quintessential ''moderate'' Republican...

BAGHDAD, Sept. 29 — American forces detained an Iraqi working for one of Iraq’s most prominent Sunni Arab political leaders on Friday on suspicion that the man was helping to plan a multiple-car suicide bombing inside the Green Zone, the military said. Shortly after Iraqi television channels began Friday night to broadcast news of the detention, the Iraqi prime minister’s office took the unusual step of banning all vehicle and pedestrian traffic in Baghdad until Sunday morning. The government declined to give a reason for the curfew and did not say whether it was linked to the detention. Authorities had...

On the west bank of the Tigris on the edge of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone a forest of cranes marks the progress of Iraq's newest monument: a US embassy that will be the largest in the world. Once an army of more than 3,500 construction workers have completed it in June 2007, the vast complex will be the new hub of the American administration in Iraq. Protected by 15ft thick walls and ringed by military guards, it signals the seriousness of America's intentions to retain a large and long-term presence in the country. The £315 million building's existence is...