Explosions Rattle Central Baghdad
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2 July 2004 -- Explosions have been reported in central Baghdad this morning.
Reports said a rocket hit the Baghdad Hotel and there were unconfirmed reports of casualties. Police said rockets had been fired at the hotel from a truck.
Another hotel in Baghdad -- The Ishtar Sheraton Hotel -- was also hit and smoke was billowing from the 10th floor.
In another attack, a booby-trapped bus exploded outside a mosque on Fardus Square, where a statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down when Baghdad fell in April 2003. There is no word yet of casualties in that incident.
The attacks came a day after ousted president Hussein, captured in December by U.S. forces, appeared before an Iraqi court to be read charges on which he faces trial.
They also came after Jordan's King Abdullah told the BBC that Jordan is willing to send troops to Iraq if they are requested by the new Iraqi interim government.
(Reuters/AP)