Wolfowitz escapes rocket attack on hotel in Baghdad

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, October 26, 2003

Wolfowitz escapes rocket attack on hotel in Baghdad

US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz barely escaped a fierce rocket attack early Sunday on a hotel in Baghdad where he was staying along with a number of other US military and civil officials.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz barely escaped a fierce rocket attack early Sunday on a hotel in Baghdad where he was staying along with a number of other US military and civil officials.

Initial investigation reported one American probably killed and several others injured, said Wolfowitz, who appeared denouncing theterrorists at a press conference three hours after the incident.

"There are few who refuse to accept the reality of a new and free Iraq. We will be unrelenting and we will pursue them," said the hawkish official.

The US military said six of the eight rockets fired by unknown fighters hit the Rasheed Hotel shortly after 6:00 a.m. (0300 GMT), but local residents told Xinhua they heard up to twenty explosions.

An Iraqi woman who works with the US-led coalition and arrived immediately after the attack told Xinhua she saw blood on the ground and several wounded westerners evacuated with stretchers.

Wolfowitz was believed to be in his room in the luxurious hotel,the 3rd and 8th floors of which were damaged. A 30-centimeter diameter hole was seen on the western front, where balconies collapsed and windows were shattered. A side of the hotel was also defaced by the impact of the shells.

Rasheed Hotel, a trademark hotel in Saddam Hussein era and takenover by the US army after it occupied Baghdad in April, stands within a heavily fortified compound where the coalition headquarters is located.

CNN quoted witnesses as saying that a group of fighters got off a car several hundred meters away from the hotel and launched the projectiles before they fled away.

It was the second attack on the building since late September, when several men fired what the US military later described as "home-made rocket-propelled grenades" which reached the vicinity of the hotel and caused minor damages.

Wolfowitz flew in Baghdad on Friday, starting his second tour to the country in three months. During the visit, he urged stepped-up efforts to create a new Iraqi army and police force to ensure security in the war-torn country.

His latest trip has witnessed intensified violence across the country and mounting casualties on the US forces.

Three more American soldiers were killed on Friday alone, bringing to 108 the number of US soldiers killed by hostile fire inIraq since US President George W. Bush declared the major combat over on May 1.

A rocket-propelled grenade attack forced down a helicopter near Tikrit, Saddam's hometown and still a stronghold for the ousted leader, when Wolfowitz visited the northern city early on Saturday.

A soldier was injured in the crashlanding and the Black Hawk helicopter was seen burned in flames minutes after the attack.

Despite the deteriorated insecurity on the ground, the second figure in the Pentagon showed no hesitation to continue his four-day trip.

"These terrorist attacks will not deter us from completing our mission, which is to help the Iraqi people free themselves from thetypes of criminals who did this and protect the American people from this kind of terrorism," he said at Sunday's press conference.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Rockets hit Baghdad hotel with Americans

US manufacturers' wish to complain to WTO about RMB: a good thing for China ( 4 Messages)

548 billion yuan invested in China's education last year ( 4 Messages)

President Hu talks about Taiwan, SARS, RMB ( 6 Messages)

How far we are away from a space power? ( 6 Messages)

India's after joint military maneuver with China ( 13 Messages)