A suspected car bomb exploded outside the main US military and civilian headquarters in Baghdad on Sunday, killing 16 Iraqis and two US Defense Department employees, wounding several other people and setting vehicles on fire.
Reuters Television footage showed injured people lying near a gate to the high-security "Green Zone," the US civilian and military base in the Iraqi capital. Cars were on fire in the background.
An official at the US-led administration put the toll at 15 dead and 25 wounded.
A US military spokesman said a car bomb was believed to have been detonated outside the gate.
One man could be seen lying on the ground with only a slight twitch in his knees showing he was alive. Another was slumped on the kerb.
Ambulances were on the way to the scene, sirens wailing, and US Army armored vehicles came out onto the street.
Insurgents resisting the US occupation regularly attack the US military and those they see as cooperating with the occupiers.
The last major attack in the capital was a car bomb which went off outside a major city restaurant on New Year's Eve, killing at least eight people and wounding 30.
At least 18 people killed in Baghdad blast, including 2 Americans
Two Americans working for the US Defense Department were among the 18 people killed in a suicide bombing on Sunday morning, a US military spokesman said.
"Sixteen Iraqis and two US Defense Department employees were killed," the spokesman said, adding "of the 28 wounded, 22 were Iraqi civilians, four were US civilian contractors and two were US soldiers."
However, a US spokeswoman said she could not confirm the nationality of the dead employees of the Department of Defense as many foreign contractors are employed by the department in Iraq.
The strong explosion, which was heard in many parts of Baghdad shortly after 8:00 am (0500 GMT), came from a car bombing attack.
Earlier, a policeman outside the headquarters said a car on line to enter the compound exploded, setting several cars nearby on fire.
The powerful blast mangled the outside wall of the former presidential palace, setting several cars on fire with thick black clouds of smoke billowing up into the sky.
It appeared to be the first suicide attempt at the heavily fortified compound stretching along the western bank of the Tigris River, although it had previously been constantly bombarded by rockets.
(Sources including China Daily and Xinhua News Agency, January 18, 2004)
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