BAGHDAD, 13 December 2003 — Iraqis bombarded the fortified headquarters of the US Army in Baghdad early yesterday, the first attack on the compound since US forces launched a mass anti-guerrilla offensive a month ago.

Four explosions followed by two very loud blasts had rung out in succession about half past midnight (2130 GMT) in Baghdad followed by another big boom yesterday morning.

“Two projectiles impacted in the vicinity of the Green Zone,” a military spokesman said, reporting no casualties. “One caused minor damage to a building,” he said.

Smoke could be seen rising into the sky near the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in the city center after the latest explosion.

Also yesterday, roadside blasts wounded two Polish sappers and killed an Iraqi policeman as US overseer Paul Bremer predicted an upsurge in attacks in the six months leading up to the country’s independence.

The policeman died and another was injured when a bomb that was apparently targeting a US convoy some 200 meters away exploded south of Baghdad, also wounding two civilians, an officer said.

Separately, a homemade bomb wounded two Polish bomb disposal experts, one seriously, as another convoy drove by, also south of Baghdad, a multinational force spokesman said.

Another four explosive charges were defused on a road used by US military convoys near an army base west of the northern city of Kirkuk, a police officer said.

Such attacks are typical of the daily violence plaguing the eight-month US-led occupation in which 196 US soldiers have been killed and more than 2,200 wounded in combat.

The unrest continued when a dispute over land confiscated from Turkmen and handed to Arabs under Saddam in the Taza area south of Kirkuk, degenerated into a shootout police said, reporting no casualties.

Meanwhile, Bremer told yesterday’s New York Times: “We’ll have bad days and good days. My own guess is we’re going to have an increase in violence over the next six months.”

Military commanders have already said as much as Iraq battles to advance toward democracy and sovereignty.

“The violence will be precisely because of the fact that we’re building momentum toward success,” Bremer said.