Mortar bomb slams into BBC office in Baghdad

Baghdad (ANTARA News/AFP) - A mortar bomb hit the roof of the BBC office in central Baghdad on Friday without causing casualties, security officials and witnesses told AFP.

The projectile struck the building in the Karrada district of the Iraqi capital at around 2:45 pm (1145 GMT), a security official said.

A witness said it gouged a hole in the roof of the building but that no one was hurt.

The neighbourhood where the BBC office is located also houses other media companies and foreign institutions.

Officials say hundreds of rockets and mortar rounds have been fired into the city since late March, mainly from Sadr City, the east Baghdad stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Since March 25, US and Iraqi forces have been battling militants, mostly from Sadr`s Mahdi Army. Hundreds of people have been killed in the clashes.

The military claims the mortar rounds and rockets fired from Sadr City are mainly targeted towards the Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy. (*) end