Rockets pound Baghdad hotels

Guards outside the Baghdad Hotel said three people were wounded or killed there. No one was hurt at the Ishtar Sheraton Hotel by a rocket that struck the 10th floor. Nearby, police found a pickup truck flipped on its side with 17 rocket launchers and a crude firing mechanism inside. Police said they believed three rockets were fired.

A similar mechanism was found on the bus, which burst into flames near the Sheraton in Firdaus Square, where American troops and Iraqis hauled down Saddam’s statue on April 9, 2003.

US and Iraqi forces have been on alert for any spectacular attacks to disrupt the handover to an interim government, which occurred on Monday, two days earlier than planned.

Jordan is ready to become the first Arab country to send peacekeepers to Iraq, if the new government requests it, King Abdullah told the BBC on Thursday.

Iraqi leaders have previously said they do not want troops from any of Iraq’s neighbours.

About 160,000 US-led foreign troops remain in Iraq to help fledgling Iraqi security forces fight anti-US militants, rebels and kidnappers trying to undermine the new government.

The government hopes the drive to bring Saddam to account for decades of war, killing and torture will curb the violence.

‘‘I think the trial will slow down the attacks and the insurgency because Saddam Hussein loyalists will lose hope,’’ said Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid Al-Bayati.

Iraq’s former US Administrator Paul Bremer said a ‘‘professional’’ network run by Jordanian militant Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was likely to be active long after other insurgent groups were defeated. Guerrillas holding two Turks said in video footage given to a news agency on Friday the hostages were being released after promising to stop working for US forces in Iraq.

The footage showed the two Turks kneeling in a room and making that pledge as masked gunmen stood above them. The captors then read a statement saying the men were being freed.

The two Turks, Soner Sercali and Murat Kizil, are employees of Turkish firm Kayteks. The company announced earlier this week it would stop doing business with US forces in Iraq.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney said the world and America were safer due to the Bush administration’s policies. Iraq ‘‘has been returned to its rightful owners and…joins Afghanistan as a nation transformed from a state sponsor of terror to an ally in the war on terror,’’ Cheney said. — (Reuters)