Sadr Tells Iraqis to Sustain Resistance

The ambassador said Yemen did not yet have a "confirmed official position" on the conditions for such a deployment. But he noted that "Yemen has always been a great advocate of a strong role for the United Nations with Iraq."

A State Department spokesman, J. Adam Ereli, said: "We certainly commend both countries for their offers of assistance. We've long said that it's important that the international community do what it can to support Iraq as it . . . moves to establish security and democratize."

Insurgents affirmed Friday morning that they would continue striking targets associated with the occupation, firing rockets at hotels housing foreign journalists and U.S. government contractors.

Shortly after 7:30 a.m., a rocket struck the Sheraton Ishtar Hotel in downtown Baghdad, sending debris clattering from the upper floors. The rocket damaged the hotel's 10th floor, but no one was injured. A second rocket hit the nearby Baghdad Hotel, where several people were reportedly wounded.

Moments later, with city streets nearly empty on the Muslim day of worship, a minibus exploded in flames near the hotels in Firdaus Square, where U.S. troops pulled down a statue of former president Saddam Hussein on April 9, 2003. There were conflicting reports regarding the attack, but U.S. and Iraqi officials eventually said the bus had been used to fire the rockets and tipped over from the force of the launch, detonating more weapons inside.

U.S. officials said the insurgents' target may have been the Green Zone, the heavily fortified compound that houses the U.S. Embassy, across the Tigris River from the hotels. Two other rocket attacks occurred later in the day, one near another hotel used by foreigners and the other near the headquarters of an Islamic party, where a guard was reportedly wounded.

Also Friday, two Turkish civilians who had been missing for more than a month were freed by insurgents. The hostages -- an air-conditioner repairman and his assistant -- were released after their company agreed to stop doing business in Iraq. A Pakistani driver was also released, Iraqi officials said.

There was also evidence that Iraqis were coming together behind their new interim government.

At the Mother of All Villages Mosque in Baghdad, Sheik Ahmad Abdul Ghafoor called on nearly 2,000 worshippers to "close ranks and unite, because in unity there is strength and in division weakness." Ghafoor, who leads the Sunni Muslim mosque, warned that the months between now and January, when Iraqis are to elect a transitional government, will be difficult ones.

"This will be a test period," he said. "These months will end, but good deeds and patriotic fervor shall remain far longer."

Staff writers Robin Wright and William Branigin in Washington and special correspondents Khalid Saffar and Hoda Lazim in Baghdad and Saad Sarhan in Kufa contributed to this report.