BAGHDAD — Two suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden backpacks Thursday inside the heavily barricaded Green Zone, killing at least six civilians -- including four Americans -- in the first suicide attacks within the area that houses the offices of the interim Iraqi government and the U.S. and British embassies.
More than 18 people were wounded in two blasts, which occurred seconds apart at the Green Zone Restaurant and Coffee Shop and a nearby marketplace where dozens of Iraqi vendors hawked soda, DVDs, electronics and other goods.
U.S. and Iraqi officials said the attacks probably were the start of an onslaught of violence coinciding with Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting that begins today. Last year, violence escalated during the same period.
Also Thursday, four U.S. soldiers were killed in attacks by insurgents. Two died after their vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in Ramadi, west of the capital. Another was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad and the fourth was hit with small-arms fire while on patrol, the military said. The deaths brought to 1,081 the number of American military personnel killed since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 18 months ago.
The suicide bombings were the most deadly attacks inside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, a 4-square-mile compound surrounded by blast walls, concertina wire and armed checkpoints.
Home to thousands of American soldiers, diplomats, contractors and Iraqi employees, the Green Zone was designed to serve as a safe haven for Westerners in Iraq. Many of its residents don't venture outside the protected compound.
But it has become a frequent target for insurgents. Last week, military officials safely removed a shopping bag containing a small bomb left in the same Green Zone Restaurant, which is popular with foreigners.
About noon Thursday, while about 18 other people were having lunch, two men who appeared to be in their mid-20s and were dressed in jeans and T-shirts entered the cafe carrying black backpacks over their shoulders, witnesses said.
The men ordered two cups of tea, sat down and talked for about 20 minutes, witnesses said. One man kept his hand inside the backpack as they spoke, said Abdul Razak Mohammed, 32, a waiter at the cafe.
Mohammed said he had never seen the men in the restaurant and asked where they were from. They told him they were Jordanian, he said.
