BAGHDAD, Nov 3: A bomb exploded outside a hotel used by Iranian pilgrims in Karbala in Iraq on Monday, killing at least three people, officials said.

They said the bomb appeared to have been planted in a nearby car and had destroyed much of the front of the hotel.

A spokesman for the Polish-led multinational force responsible for security around the Karbala region confirmed there had been a bomb explosion and that there were Iraqi casualties.

“There were no casualties from coalition forces,” the spokesman said.

In Baghdad, guerillas launched a mortar attack in central Baghdad on Monday evening near the headquarters of the US-led administration in Iraq, but the US military said there were no reports of any casualties.

Reuters reporters heard four loud explosions echoing across the city from the western bank of the river Tigris, where the US-led administration occupies a large palace complex previously used by Saddam Hussein.

“Three to four mortars impacted in central Baghdad, but we don’t yet know the point of impact,” a US military spokesman in Baghdad said. “There have been no casualties reported.” In Washington, an official said the complex had not been affected by the attack.—Reuters