Missile attack on Baghdad hotel

Iraqi forces are increasingly the target of attacks

A rocket has hit a hotel used by Western contractors and journalists in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Smoke rose from the Sheraton hotel , after the hit on the sixth floor, but no casualties were reported.

The Sheraton and nearby Palestine hotels are surrounded by barriers and closely guarded by the US military.

The Iraqi capital has been subject to repeated missile and bomb attacks, with 17 killed a week ago when a car bomb destroyed the Mount Lebanon hotel.

"A rocket hit an air-conditioning unit on the sixth floor and knocked down a small portion of a wall" about 0400 (0100GMT), said an eyewitness quoted by the AFP news agency.

Reports said a foreign contractor had been wounded when another rocket landed in Baghdad's "Green Zone" housing Iraq's US-led administration.

Crossfire

In the western town of Falluja, a roadside bomb wounded two US soldiers.

US military officials said insurgents fired on troops after the bomb exploded at about 1.30am local time (2230 GMT Tuesday).

Two Iraqi civilians were killed after they were caught in the crossfire, Reuters reported.

Earlier on Tuesday , at least 13 people died in a series of separate attacks against police and security forces working with the US military in the country.

Nine policemen and recruits were killed when attackers opened fire on a minibus near Hilla, south of Baghdad, and two policemen were shot at a police checkpoint in the northern city of Kirkuk.

In Mosul, two Iraqi civilians were killed in a mortar attack on a base used by the new Iraqi army.

Correspondents say insurgents now appear to be attacking Iraqi security forces in preference to US-led troops, because they are easier targets and are seen as collaborating with the occupation.