BAGHDAD, Oct. 31 -- A rocket slammed into a hotel in Tikrit late Sunday, killing 15 Iraqis and wounding eight others in the home town of former president Saddam Hussein, hospital officials said.
U.S. military officials blamed the attack on "anti-Iraqi forces," the term they use for insurgents. They said two rockets were fired, one of which exploded near a U.S. military position but caused no damage or casualties.
Clashes were also reported between U.S. forces and insurgents in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. Seven Iraqis were killed and 11 injured, hospital officials said.
As night fell in the Iraqi capital, the rumble of powerful explosions could be heard coming from the western edge of the city, but the cause of the blasts could not be determined.
The blast in Tikrit, about 90 miles north of Baghdad, sent frightened guests of the three-story Sunubar Hotel running into the street.
British news reports said four mortar shells landed early Sunday at a British camp near Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad. Two rockets also exploded at the perimeter of the airport in the southern city of Basra where the British contingent has its headquarters.
There were no casualties or serious damage in either attack, British media reports said.
