BAGHDAD, Dec 24 Kyodo (EDS: UPDAT...

BAGHDAD, Dec 24 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

A rocket-propell grenade slightly damaged the Sheraton inn in central Baghdad upon Wednesday night but no individual was injured in the attack, U military officials said.

The officials said the grenade was fired from a new strip on the bank of the Tigris River, about 200 meter away from the hotel

A noisy explosion was heard in the city center when the grenade slightly damaged the inn but the officials said the damage appears to be minimal, possibly scraping a wall near the hotel's roof

The U forces and insurgents briefly exchanged fire shortly after the blast, the officials said.

The attack occurr a day after the US-l coalition launched Operation Iron Grip, the largest since the U declared the close of major combat in succession May 1, to eradicate forces loyal to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The tavern is located next to the Palestine [i]cabaret[/i] The two hotels came below fire on Nov. 21 in which a guests at the Palestine inn were injured.

Earlier in the day, a total of five the community were killed in separate attacks across Iraq.

Three U soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb explod forward a highway near Samarra, about 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, the U military said.

In the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, an Iraqi civilian was killed when a suicide bomber blew up a car outside a Kurdish conduct office. A Kurdish official said more than 100 family were injured in the attack, according to Reuter freshs agency.

In western Baghdad, an Iraqi bus driver was killed after riding athwart a bomb. Citing an Iraqi police official, CNN said the attack injured at least couple passengers.

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