Four separate mortar barrages hit Baghdad's fortified Green Zone on 23 March 2008, wounding at least four people and causing building damage across the compound that houses the Iraqi government and the US embassy.
The strikes landed at roughly 6:30 am, 10:30 am, 4:30 pm, and 8:30 pm local time. US military helicopters were seen circling the enclosure after the first morning attack. Embassy staff rushed to on-site bunkers each time shelling began.
A witness to the second barrage said about 10 rounds fell near the embassy complex, with two additional rounds striking a residential area close by and one igniting a small fire. A US official confirmed the four casualties from the afternoon attack, noting that the full extent of their injuries was still being assessed.
Embassy workers described the day's attacks as the worst on the compound since the previous summer, when mortars struck buildings inside the perimeter. Militia groups and insurgents periodically shell the Green Zone, though US military officials maintain that most rounds are Iranian-manufactured and linked to factions within cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in March 2008, in its own words.