Bomb Hits SCIRI Offices In Iraq

Baghdad, 10 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Officials with the largest Shi'a political party in Iraq, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), say a bomb exploded near their offices in Baquba today, injuring a number of people.

The officials said the explosion left several people with minor injuries and damaged the building housing offices in Baquba, 55 kilometers northwest of Baghdad.

SCIRI offices around Iraq have been periodically hit by weapons fire since the fall of Saddam Hussein last April.

Also today, the U.S. military said a mortar round fired by U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq missed its target earlier this week, killing an Iraqi civilian. The military said the mortar round was fired on 8 March against hostile forces in Ejba, near Mosul, and it is investigating the incident.