BAGHDAD, Dec. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- A series of powerful explosions rocked central Baghdad early Thursday morning, and sirens wailed at the headquarters of the US-led coalition that oversees Iraq, also called the Green Zone.

    The blasts, coupled with a barrage of automatic gunfire, started around 6:20 am (0320 GMT) and lasted for about 10 minutes.Several targets in the city seemed to have come under attack.

    Witnesses said one of the blasts appeared to shake a hotel where Westerners were staying.

    The latest attacks are expected to add to the bleak Christmas atmosphere in Baghdad, following another round of explosions in Iraq on Wednesday. Three US soldiers were killed that day when their convey was hit by a roadside bomb near Samarra, 100 km northof Baghdad.

    A suicide car bomber killed himself and four others in front of interior ministry offices in the Kurdish city of Arbil at midday on Wednesday. Dozens of others were wounded. Also around noon on Wednesday, a roadside bomb went off in a busy area of western Baghdad, killing an Iraqi and wounding two others.

    Since American troops captured Saddam on December 13, insurgents have launched a fresh wave of resistance attacks in central and northern Iraq, resulting in the death of six US soldiers by Wednesday. Enditem