Dutch embassy left in flames
2004-01-31 09:49
Baghdad - The Dutch embassy in Baghdad exploded into flames in a rocket strike late on Friday and three Iraqi soldiers were shot dead in the northern city of Mosul amid warnings from United States generals that violence could escalate.
The unrest blighted an announcement from United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan that his staff would travel to Iraq within days to assess the feasibility of holding swift elections.
The unoccupied Dutch mission was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, sparking a major alert in the capital, said the US military.
"The grenade started a fire that was quickly extinguished by the Baghdad fire department," said a US military spokesperson.
The attack at 20:40 was confirmed by Dutch foreign ministry spokesperson Martine de Haan, who said there were no casualties.
"The Netherlands was clearly targeted in this attack," she said in The Hague, which maintains about 1 200 troops in southern Iraq as part of the US-led coalition.
At least two other explosions shook the city several hours later, the US military confirmed, but it was not known if there was any damage.
UN team prepares for new mission
Unrest shook Mosul on Friday night when three Iraqi soldiers were shot dead by gunmen at a checkpoint outside a former palace of Saddam Hussein, said police and a coroner. A fourth soldier was seriously wounded.
The twin attacks focused attention on security in post-war Iraq, as a UN team prepared its mission to study whether polls could be organised before a planned June 30 handover of power to Iraqis.
"I believe that within a few days the team should be able to travel and start the work," Annan said in Brussels, indicating that the coalition had promised to guarantee its security.
The UN move was welcomed by the spiritual leadership of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, spearheading the campaign for elections, which vowed to keep an "open mind" toward the team.
Annan pulled UN expatriate staff out of Iraq last October after an August 19 bombing at UN offices in Baghdad killed his envoy and 21 others.
But after a month that has seen suicide bombers strike in Baghdad, five US helicopters downed, mainly by hostile fire, and 35 US soldiers and scores of Iraqis killed, top coalition generals predicted worse to come.
Coalition forces are bracing for violence during the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which starts on Sunday, said the coalition's deputy director of operations, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.
General John Abizaid, head of US Central Command, has also warned that Iraq faces an escalation in carnage and possible civil war.