BAGHDAD, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. contractor working for the American consulate in Basra, the second largest city of Iraq, was killed in a rocket attack overnight, a spokesman of the multinational forces in southern Iraq said on Saturday.

    Several rockets struck a former presidential palace, which is now guarded by the British forces and houses some of its troops as well as diplomatic missions for Britain, the United States and their allies.

    "One of the rockets hit the British consulate without causing casualties, but the second hit the U.S. consulate, killing the contractor," the spokesman said.

    Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad, has been relatively calm, but during the past few months tensions ran high in the city as British forces detained several Shiite leaders accused of orchestrating death squads. Enditem