Nighttime Blasts Shake Baghdad

French, German and British leaders to search for accord

Fri, September 19 2003

(2:16 PM E T)(18:6 GMT)

CNN's Walter Rodgers, Nic Robertson, Jason Bellini, Vivien Paulsen and David Ensor contributed to this report

After nearly a week of negotiations, Iraq's former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad surrendered Friday to U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, according to coalition officials and a mediator for the former minister.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- CNN
Two explosions were heard in Baghdad on Friday night, and the U.S. military sent up flares as it searched for the source of the blasts.

One explosion was in the Al Mansour neighborhood of west Baghdad, a CNN cameraman reported. It is the same neighborhood in which the U.S. military targeted former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other senior Iraqi officials in April.

The second blast occurred on the east side of the Tigris River near the stadium. Police told CNN that it appeared to have been caused by a bomb in a trash bin, and no casualties were reported. The blast created a hole in the road, and a car was damaged.

A bomb went off in the area about two weeks ago.
* Former defense chief surrenders

* 3 U.S. soldiers killed in ambush near Tikrit

* French-German-UK summit Saturday

* Other developments

(More: CNN.com)
2003 © Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

Dan