Iraqi rebels attack Basra oil terminal

Regarding the Basra attacks, coalition officials said there was no damage to the terminal through which Iraq ships nearly all the 1.9 million barrels of oil it exports per day, but the installation 8212; some 10 km offshore 8212; was shut down for an undisclosed period.

The US Navy said four other coalition members were wounded in the attacks, which followed suicide car bombings in Basra itself this week that killed more than 70 people and were blamed by Washington on Al Qaeda.

8216;8216;The coalition boarding team were killed and wounded as a result of three concurrent waterborne attacks in the Arabian Gulf,8217;8217; the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said. It said an eight-man interception team had approached a bomb-rigged boat when it exploded. Twenty minutes later, two unidentified small boats also blew up, the statement said. The statement did not identify the nationalities of the dead and wounded, pending notification of next of kin.

A British Defence Ministry spokeswoman in London said: 8216;8216;There was no damage to the oil terminal8230; As far as I know there were no British casualties.8217;8217; Officials at Iraq8217;s Southern Oil Company said the terminal had been shut down. 8216;8216;All workers were evacuated. We are concerned about the possibility of more attacks,8217;8217; said one official.

On Sunday, four schoolchildren were killed by gunfire in Baghdad, shortly after a roadside bomb ripped through a US military vehicle, witnesses said.

Some witnesses said the children, all aged around 12, were shot dead by US troops who had opened fire randomly after the blast on Canal Street in eastern Baghdad. At least five other people were wounded.

The children had left their nearby school to look at the burning Humvee, the witnesses said. Children and some passers-by were 8216;8216;celebrating8217;8217; the attack near the vehicle when the deadly shots were fired.

The US military had no immediate word on the incident. The targeted Humvee was part of a military convoy driving through the street. Two soldiers in the Humvee were evacuated from the scene by military medics, the witnesses said.

Meanwhile, Katyusha rockets hit a hospital, a hotel and a police facility in Mosul, killing two hospital and two hotel workers and wounding 13 people, police said.

They said a rocket slammed into the Salam Hospital, killing two women staff and wounding 10 other people. Less than an hour later, a second rocket hit Ashour Hotel in the city centre, causing extensive damage and wounding three people.

Two of the wounded, both hotel workers, died in hospital.

A third rocket struck next to police headquarters in southern Mosul, wounding two policemen.