LOC20:59
17:59 GMT
BAGHDAD, Dec 14 (KUNA) -- A rocket attack targeted the Green Zone, downtown
Baghdad, Sunday evening while visiting U.S. President George W. Bush was
holding talks with Iraqi leaders.
Loud explosion of a Katyusha missile was heard at 7:30 pm. (local time) as
Bush was set to sign the U.S.-Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), a
security official said.
No reports about the possible casualties or of damage resulting from the
attack were available so far and the U.S. Army and embassy have yet to comment
on it.
Bush, who arrived here earlier Sunday on his last official visit to Iraq as
a U.S. president, is scheduled to hold talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
Al-Maliki later this evening.
The signing ceremony of the long-awaited SOFA is expected gather large
numbers of Iraqi government officials and U.S. embassy staffers.
The deal provides that the U.S. combat forces should leave the Iraqi urban
areas by late June, 2009, and leave the country by 2011.
Bush, on his fourth visit to Iraq, plans to bid farewell to US troops
deployed there. His last visit took place in September, 2007. (end)
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