BAGHDAD, July 21 (AFP) - Two people were killed and four wounded on Wednesday when a missile hit the seventh floor of a Baghdad hospital, doctors said.
"Two patients were killed and four others including patients and staff were seriously wounded when a missile hit the seventh floor this afternoon," said doctor Amir Mokhtar of the Adnan Khairallah hospital.
He said the missile, which struck at about 3:45 pm (1145 GMT), had devastated the entire floor.
"We heard three loud explosions and then a missile hit the seventh floor head on," said doctor Mohammed Tafash.
The missile punctured the glass front and passed through two patient wards, said an AFP correspondent on the scene. Remains of medical equipment and broken glass littered the blood-stained floor.
The hospital, which is near the central Bab al-Muazam neighbourhood on the east side of the Tigris river, is next to another medical compound. It was not clear whether the hospital had been deliberately targeted or whether the missile had been badly aimed.
Doctor Mohktar was indignant at the missile strike.
"The two patients killed were literally split in half," he said.
"I ask those who have committed this act, what will they gain ... the only loser is the Iraqi people."
The hospital is named after Saddam Hussein`s brother-in-law, a defence minister who died in a helicopter crash in 1989 which some have blamed on Saddam who was said to see the charismatic Khairallah as a threat to his power.