Rocket attack kills four contractors in Baghdad's Green Zone

The 'Green Zone' is an area of of Baghdad blocks barricaded against intrusion. The area was originally home to the villas of government officials, several government ministries, and a number of palaces of Saddam Hussein. Today it contains the headquarters for all American operations, as well as Iraqi Ministerial Offices and the National Assembly. A number of top Iraqi government officials live there as well.

BAGHDAD, May 3 (Reuters) - Four U.S. government contractors, all from Asia, were killed in a rocket strike on the heavily fortified Green Zone compound in Baghdad on Wednesday, the U.S. embassy said on Thursday.

It was one of the deadliest rocket attacks on the Green Zone since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

"It is with a profound sense of sadness and regret that we announce the loss of four U.S. government contractors as the result of a rocket attack on the International Zone in Baghdad, Iraq on May 2nd, 2007," the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy had initially identified those killed as all being from the Philippines. It said in a later statement revising their nationalities that one was from the Philippines, two were from India and the fourth was from Nepal.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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