A mortar shell that hit a coalition office in Samarra north of Baghdad today killed one Iraqi and injuring 12 others, the US military said.
The mortar round crashed onto the Civil Military Operations centre, an office that co-ordinates military and civilian humanitarian aid.
American soldiers said they heard three explosions. Soldiers were unable to find the attackers, US Central Command said.
"This is one of numerous incidents recently where Iraqi resistors have attacked Coalition forces or Coalition Provisional Authority locations and injured or killed Iraqi citizens," it said. CentCom said no US forces were injured in the attack.
It was the third known mortar attack on coalition facilities since major combat was officially declared over on May 1st.
Iraqi resisters have been increasing attacks on US forces in recent weeks. Authorities have blamed members of former president Saddam Hussein's former Baath Party, ex-army soldiers, non-Iraqi "holy warriors" and Sunni Muslim radicals for the upsurge in violence.
A total of US soldiers havebeen killed by hostile action in Iraq since the start of May. Afurther 36 have been killed in accidents.
The attacks have been concentrated in Baghdad and two nearbyareas - to the west around Falluja and Ramadi, and to the northaround Balad, Baquba and Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.Samarra lies around 120 km (75 miles) north of Baghdad, betweenthe tense towns of Balad and Tikrit.
In a shift of tactics this week, insurgents have also started targeting fellow Iraqis deemed to be too close to the US-led occupation forces.
Agencies