Explosions shook two Baghdad hotels used by foreign business people, contractors and media companies this evening, a day after a suicide car bomb demolished another hotel and killed seven.
The Cedar and Rimal hotels face each other on a street in central Baghdad. Guests reported hearing the explosions, but it was not immediately clear what caused them.
As loud blasts echoed across Baghdad, warning sirens sounded briefly at the headquarters of the US-led administration in the centre of the Iraqi capital.
The sirens are usually triggered when guerrillas fire rockets or mortar bombs at the headquarters in the heavily fortified "Green Zone" on the west bank of the Tigris river. Guerrillas have repeatedly attacked the headquarters in recent months, but have rarely managed to cause significant damage.
The death toll in the suicide bombing of hotel in Baghdad yesterday was revised down to seven as rescue workers ended their search after working through the night to find people buried by rubble. The blast shattered the five-storey Mount Lebanon Hotel and nearby houses, sending a column of flames and smoke into the night sky.
Iraqi officials said most victims were Iraqis, and the US military said no Westerners were reported dead but some US civilians and two British citizens were among the 40 wounded. It later emerged one of the injured Britons had died.
The US also said the bomb was made up of 1,000 pounds of explosives packed with artillery shells and appeared to be the work of al-Qaeda. The US said today a suicide car bomber was responsible.