Two Baghdad hotels, oil ministry hit by rockets ( 2003-11-21 14:02) (Reuters)
People inspect the lobby of the Sheraton
hotel after an explosion in Baghdad, November 21, 2003.
[Reuters]
Rockets on Friday slammed into the Iraqi oil
ministry and two central Baghdad hotels used by Western contractors and
journalists, wounding several people, police and witnesses said.
Three rockets had hit the oil ministry, which was ablaze, police said.
Guests evacuated the Sheraton and Palestine hotels, located in a fortified
compound near the Tigris river, after the buildings were hit by rockets. Guests
saw shards of glass and fragments of plaster and concrete scattered across the
floors.
Witnesses said at the hotels said they had seen several people with at least
light wounds. A security guard said two people had been taken to hospital.
Police officers near the scene said a man had fired rockets from a launcher
hidden on a donkey cart. A U.S. soldier at the scene said the rockets were RPG-7
rocket-propelled grenades.
A Reuters reporter close to the hotels about an hour after the blasts said
the cart was lying on its side and he could still see several rockets lying on
the ground.
The Palestine Hotel appeared to have been hit around the 16th or 17th floor,
a Reuters witness surveying the damage said. At least two holes were punched in
windows at the Sheraton, witnesses said.
A security guard at a nearby building said he had seen a rocket or
rocket-propelled grenade fly through the air toward the hotels.
The Sheraton still uses the name of the luxury hotel chain although it is no
longer part of it. The two hotels are guarded round the clock and surrounded by
concrete walls.