Rockets slammed into an Iraqi housing complex near the Baghdad international airport and a nearby US military base, killing at least five people and wounding 16, including two US soldiers, officials said.
US troops acting on strong evidence arrested six Iraqi suspects on Monday in the vicinity of the apparent launching sites, a military official said.
The brazen attack followed a weekend in which US and Iraqi officials touted the security gains of a year-old operation in Baghdad that included an additional 30,000 US troops. Rocket and mortar attacks were once a daily occurrence, but have tapered off with a general decline in violence in the capital.
Twelve 107mm rockets fell in and around the airport and the nearby Camp Victory, the main US military base on the western outskirts of Baghdad, the US military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the official release of the information.
He said Camp Victory was hit and two soldiers suffered light injuries, but that most of the casualties were in a housing complex for airport employees, about 800m from the airport.
Camp Victory, on the outskirts of Baghdad, is the site of the main US military headquarters.
Five Iraqis were killed and 14 wounded including five children, one baby, one adult and a teenager who were taken to a nearby US medical facility, the military official said.
The US military did not respond with fire but sent a team in the direction of the launching sites, arresting six people, the official said. One unexploded rocket also was recovered, the military said.
Residents in the housing complex said it includes 250 to 300 trailers primarily occupied by airport employees.
They said two trailers were destroyed in the attack.
"One of these two families lost four of its sons, three of them were buried under the debris," said one resident, adding that those killed were between 10 and 20 years old.
Iraqi police earlier reported that six to 13 rockets also struck the US-protected Green Zone on Monday afternoon, but the US military official denied that report.
In other violence, a roadside bombing in the northwestern city of Mosul killed three civilians and wounded four others, police said. The US military has described Mosul as the last major urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Iraqi officials spent the weekend celebrating the successes of a crackdown that began a year ago and saw the eventual buildup of some 30,000 extra US troops.
But the US military has been more cautious, warning that Shiite and Sunni extremists remain a serious threat.
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