Mortar barrage pounds U.S.-controlled Green Zone
Britain's army has announced that Prince Harry won't be sent to Iraq.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Mortar rounds hammered the U.S.-controlled Green Zone for a second day Wednesday, killing at least two people, wounding about 10 more and raising new fears for the safety of workers at the nerve center of the American mission in Iraq.
About a dozen shells crashed into the 3.5-square-mile area of central Baghdad about 4 p.m., sending terrified pedestrians racing for the safety of concrete bunkers.
Motorists abandoned their cars and sprinted for cover. Sirens wailed and loudspeakers warned people to seek safety.
No American casualties were reported, and the two dead as well as most of the wounded were Iraqis, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said.
An Iraqi security officer said one of the dead was a driver for the staff of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose office is in the Green Zone. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.
Both the intensity and skill of the attack were noteworthy. The shells, believed to be 122 mm, exploded in rapid succession over about a three-minute period.
The blasts were relatively close to one another, suggesting an experienced mortar crew using more than one launcher. It was unclear whether the rounds were fired by Sunni or Shiite extremists. Both groups operate in areas of the city within rocket and mortar range of the secured complex despite the ongoing Baghdad security crackdown.
Mortar and rocket crews can set up their weapons quickly on the beds of trucks or in parts of the city with limited surveillance, fire their rounds and flee before U.S. and Iraqi forces can respond.
"When they launch these type of weapons systems, they launch from populated areas, around civilians and in built-up areas," Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon press briefing.
'Significant' damage
The U.S. Institute of Peace said its office suffered "significant" shrapnel damage though there were no casualties among its staff. The institute sponsored the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which outlined a plan last December for the withdrawal of most U.S. combat troops by early 2008.
Britain's army reversed course Wednesday and announced that Prince Harry will not be sent to Iraq with his regiment because of "specific threats" from insurgents that expose the third in line to the throne to an unacceptable degree of risk.
Harry had been expected to deploy to southern Iraq in the next few weeks but Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, who recently traveled to Iraq, said the situation there had become too dangerous and press scrutiny of the plans had exacerbated the situation.
The 22-year-old prince, who had long dreamed of leading his tank unit in Iraq, said he is disappointed but respected the decision.
Dannatt said the move was due to specific threats to the prince and risks to the safety of his fellow soldiers.
In the past, Harry had spoken of his desire to see active service. In an interview to mark his 21st birthday he said he would not have gone through the rigors of officer training at the elite Sandhurst military academy "then sit on my [behind] back home while my boys are out fighting for their country."
Later this year, the United States plans to open a massive new embassy inside the Green Zone despite the ongoing security threat. Embassy staffers have expressed concern that the new facility lacks enough space to house the employees in safety.
At least 88 violent deaths were reported by police across Iraq on Wednesday, including 32 people who died the night before when a car bomb exploded near a market.
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