IRAQ: A powerful explosion last night destroyed a hotel in central Baghdad, where some Americans and Britons were thought to be staying, killing at least 27 people and injuring 41, write Jonathan Steele and Brian Whitaker
The blast, three days before the anniversary of the US-led invasion, carved out a crater 20 ft across and 10 ft deep in the road outside the Mount Lebanon hotel.
Dazed and injured people were seen stumbling from the wreckage, though others - including an entire family - were last night believed to be still trapped under rubble. A father was seen cradling his young daughter, limp in his arms.
Buildings nearby were severely damaged, including the offices of al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite TV channel, and several cars caught fire. One vehicle was blown into a shop.
"I heard the explosion and I ran down the street, and saw many, many people killed. There were children dead," Mr Raad Abdul Karim (30) said. The neighbourhood was populated by a mixture of Shias, Sunnis and Kurds, he said. "They are ordinary families. I don't know why this happened."
The blast came hours after Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council decided to invite the UN to return to Baghdad and advise on setting up an interim government by June 30th.
The UN pulled out of Iraq last August when a bomb attack on its Baghdad headquarters killed its special representative, Vieira de Mello, and 21 others.
At the scene of yesterday's attack, about 100 US troops in Bradley tanks and Humvees ushered away the crowds, while a dozen ambulances ferried the injured to hospital. Angry and weeping people stood watching in clusters.
Col Ralph Baker, of the US 1st Armoured Division, said last night that rescuers were still searching for victims in the five-storey hotel.
Guerrillas fighting the US-led occupation have targeted hotels several times; but, unlike the Sheraton and Palestine hotels nearby, where many foreign contractors, companies and media organisations are based, the Mount Lebanon is used mainly by Iraqi businessmen visiting Baghdad.
One local, however, said that some Americans and Britons had been staying there, and Col Baker confirmed that foreigners were among the guests.
The hotel is close to Firdus square, where a statue of Saddam Hussein was symbolically toppled on April 9th last year when US troops rolled into the city.
The Governing Council's deputy interior minister, Mr Ahmed Kadhim, as well as several residents near the hotel, said they believed it had been a rocket attack.
But a US soldier insisted it was not a rocket. "It has to be a car- bomb. No rocket could cause that amount of damage," said Private Heath Balick of the 1st Armoured Division, which is responsible for security in Baghdad.
In Washington, the Bush administration offered prayers for the victims, but said such attacks would not change US policy. "Democracy is taking root in Iraq and there is no turning back," Mr Scott McClellan, White House spokesman, said. "This is a time of testing, but the terrorists will not prevail."
The Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, turned up his criticism of President Bush, charging that US troops were stuck in Iraq with no end in sight.
"We are still bogged down in Iraq - and the administration stubbornly holds to failed, unilateral policies that drive allies away," Mr Kerry said. "But the answer is not a stubborn pursuit of the same arrogant policies; the answer to failure is not more of the same. Instead we have to return more effectively to the international community."
The US Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney, defended Mr Bush, saying: "American policy must be clear and consistent in its purposes." US cable networks covered Mr Cheney's speech but split their screens to show the latest carnage in Baghdad. - (Guardian Service)