Rocket Kills 2 Contract Workers at U.N. Compound in Baghdad

[unhappycamper]

Rocket Kills 2 Contract Workers at U.N. Compound in Baghdad
By KATHERINE ZOEPF
Published: November 29, 2008

BAGHDAD — A rocket fired into the Green Zone here about 6:15 a.m. Saturday struck a spot near the United Nations compound, killing two contract employees and wounding 15 others, said Eliane Nabaa, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq.

“They were all employees of a catering company supporting the United Nations facility,” Ms. Nabaa said. A senior Iraqi official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was developing, said the rocket was believed to have been fired from Sadr City, the Shiite district in northeastern Baghdad.

On Aug. 19, 2003, a suicide bombing at Baghdad’s Canal Hotel, which was then headquarters for the United Nations in Iraq, killed 23 people, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was at that time the United Nations secretary general’s special representative in Iraq.

Since then, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq has moved its headquarters to the Green Zone, which houses the most senior American and Iraqi officials and institutions.

Rocket attacks on the Green Zone have become relatively rare recently, and it was not yet known whether the United Nations was the specific target.


Rest of artiocle at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/world/middleeast/30iraq.html?ref=middleeast



uhc comment: Shooting non-GPS munitions makes the landing zone a crap shoot. Back in my day we could watch the 122mm rockets as they launched from hills about six miles away. Time to duck.