Rockets rain down on Green Zone, one hits shortly before Negroponte arrives

http://www.pr-inside.com/rockets-rain-down-on-green-zone-r153782.htm

BAGHDAD (AP) - A vehicle ban in Baghdad kept militant gunmen and car bombers off the streets Thursday, but the fighters rained rockets and mortars on the U.S.-guarded Green Zone. One slammed into a street near Parliament minutes before the No. 2 State Department official passed by.

A feared storm of violence after the second bombing of one of Shiite Islam's most revered shrines did not materialize in the first day after suspected al-Qaida attackers toppled the towering minarets at the Askariya mosque in Samarra.

Only a dozen bodies turned up at morgues across the country _ a fraction of the usual daily toll. At least 26 people were killed in bombings and shootings Thursday as well.

In a meeting with a small group of reporters Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the shrine attack was the work of al-Qaida.

I just don't think there's any doubt that it was al-Qaida that first struck the Askariya in February 2006, and the method this time was very similar to that _ (explosive) charges very carefully placed to devastating effect,» Crocker said.

The U.S. military issued a statement Thursday saying Iraqi forces had arrested the Emergency Service Unit commander and 12 policemen responsible for security at the shrine when the bombs crumbled the golden minarets.