A US soldier died and 34 were wounded when Iraqi rebels fired mortars at a military base near Baghdad.
A US military spokesman said at least six mortar rounds struck a logistics base west of the capital shortly after sundown last night, with some landing close to a sleeping quarters, sending shrapnel and glass flying across a wide area.
The attack came hours after Mr Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, announced plans to free up to 500 Iraqi prisoners as part of a new policy of reconciliation that gives those seen as a low-level security threat a second chance.
Hundreds of families began gathering at dawn outside the gates of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad - now renamed the Baghdad Central Penitentiary - in the hope that friends or relatives may be part of the release programme.
