Mortar attack caused US ammo dump fire in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Oct 11 (Reuters) A mortar attack caused fire at a U S ammunition dump in southern Baghdad that sparked a barrage of explosions that continued to shake the capital today morning, a U S military spokesman said.

''It was a mortar round yesterday night,'' Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Withington, spokesman for the U S 4th Infantry Division, told Reuters.

The Islamic Army in Iraq, one of a number of militant groups operating in the country, claimed responsibility for the attack.

''The Islamic Army ... (launched) rockets and mortar bombs ... at a base for the occupying American forces,'' said the statement signed by the group and posted on a Web site often used by Islamist militants.

Withington said there were no reports of casualties among the soldiers on the base or Iraqi civilians in neighbouring districts.

REUTERS PDM BS1456