Baghdad rocked by bombs as US opens new embassy

Published on Monday 5 January 2009 21:05

THE United States opened its new embassy in Baghdad under tight security yesterday, the most visible sign of what officials have hailed as a new chapter in relations between the US and a more sovereign Iraq.

The inauguration of the $700 million (475 million) fortress-like compound in the heart of the Green Zone came days after a security agreement between Iraq and the US took effect. It replaced a United Nations mandate that gave legal authority to the US and other foreign troops to operate in Iraq. But as Ryan Crocker, the ambassador, lauded progress made in Iraq during an inauguration ceremony at the embassy, Baghdad was rocked by a second day of violence that saw four car bombs explode in various parts of the city, killing four people and wounding 19 others.

It came a day after at least 38 people were killed at a Shi'ite shrine four miles north of the site of the new embassy.