A US soldier in the al-Rashid Hotel and Convention Centre, where the military maintains its press office and other facilities, said the grenades were fired early Saturday. He would not say if the attackers hit the hotel, but added he didn't think there were any casualties.

The neighbourhood was sealed off. Residents of a neighbourhood just west of the complex said the rocket launcher was fired from the middle of a street in the Salhiya district and left behind as the attackers fled. A resident said the grenades were fired at about 6:30 a.m.

The attack came as residents in Fallujah, a hotspot west of Baghdad, reported that US troops fired on two vehicles at a checkpoint Friday night, killing four Iraqis and wounding at least three others, including a child.

US military officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the reported checkpoint shooting.

Residents reached by telephone in Fallujah said it occurred Friday night on the eastern edge of Fallujah, where opposition to the American presence runs deep.

Iraqi policeman Sinan Najam Fahd said US troops fired at a car and a pickup truck but gave no reason why. Police and ambulances rushed the victims to Fallujah General Hospital. They included one girl who appeared to be about 10 years old and who suffered a leg wound.

Meanwhile, at least four Iraqi civilians, including two women, were killed late Friday when US troops opened fire on cars at the entrance to the hotspot town of Fallujah, hospital officials said.

An AFP correspondent at Fallujah Hospital said eight other Iraqis were wounded, four seriously, after the incident at 10:45 pm (1845) outside the town 50 km west of Baghdad.