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Rockets kill up to 15 Iraqi policemen

As many as 15 Iraqi policemen responding to an attack against US bases in Baghdad were killed and 27 wounded when rockets set to be launched exploded before they could be defused, officials said.

Four US soldiers were wounded on Tuesday when the first rockets slammed into their outposts in the capital, the military said.

It was the second rocket attack against US targets in as many days.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks, but in both cases the rockets apparently were launched from Shiite militia strongholds in the capital, raising concern about renewed activity ahead of a deadline for the anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to renew a ceasefire order.

The US military has expressed hope the radical cleric will extend the ceasefire but insisted on continuing to target what it says are Iranian-backed breakaway factions in raids that have alienated many of his followers.

The US outposts that were hit were close to each other and the attacks occurred within a five-minute timespan, according to Sergeant Nicole Dykstra, a military spokeswoman. One soldier was wounded in the first attack, while three were wounded in the second strike before Iraqi police responded, she said.

The blast that killed the Iraqis occurred after police, acting on a tip, discovered the rockets primed for firing in the back of a truck behind a deserted ice factory in the predominantly Shiite area of Obeidi in eastern Baghdad.

Explosives experts were trying to defuse the rockets when two of them detonated in quick succession, police said.

Two rockets had already been fired from the same truck, police said.

At least 15 policemen were killed and 27 were wounded in the blast, according to officials with the Interior Ministry, local police and hospitals that received the wounded who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The US military gave a lower casualty toll, saying three civilians were killed and 17 wounded in the truck explosion.
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