Journalists' hotel in Baghdad attacked
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-25 08:43

Casualty reports varied widely. The U.S. military said six civilians were killed and 15 wounded, but al-Rubaie said at least 20 were killed and 40 wounded, mainly passers-by on the street. Kamal said four or five police officers were among the dead. Two AP employees and three other journalists inside the hotel suffered minor injuries.

No American troops were wounded, the military said. A U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicle parked inside the compound was destroyed in the blast, but no one was inside at the time. But the toll among American service members killed in the Iraq war reached 1,997 with the announcement of a Marine killed Sunday during fighting in western Iraq.

Since the beginning of 2005, at least 465 vehicle bombings, including suicide car bombs and vehicles exploded by remote detonations, have killed at least 2,250 people in Iraq.

Security still photos showed a clear attempt to attack the hotel on Monday.

The assault began when at 5:21 p.m. a white car drove up to the concrete blast wall that separates the hotel complex from Firdous Square, where a giant statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down after U.S. troops captured Baghdad on April 9, 2003.

Associated Press correspondent Bob Reid reports on the phone as security advisors secure a stairway at the Palestine hotel in Baghdad Iraq Monday Oct. 24, 2005. [AP]

Two minutes later and on the opposite side of the square, a second car blew up next to the mosque. The U.S. military said it appeared the car tried to aim for the breach in the blast wall but was stopped by Iraqi security forces near the mosque, and detonated.

Then, one minute later, the cement truck drove through the breach and appeared to get about 15 to 20 feet inside the compound when it suddenly stopped. It repeatedly drove short distances back and forth, as if stuck on something, as gunfire broke out, according to the still photos and Associated Press Television News footage. Then it exploded in a huge yellow ball of fire and smoke.

The U.S. military said an American soldier fired on the cement truck as it tried to move through the breached wall. The military speculated that the reason for the truck's rocking back and forth was that it may have been stuck on debris from the first blast or perhaps because small arms fire had flattened its tires, damaged its engine or wounded the driver.