From IraqSlogger:

A coordinated mortar attack struck Baghdad’s Green Zone Wednesday, killing at least two Iraqis and injuring at least ten people.

At least one of the dead appeared to be a driver for the staff of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, according to Iraqi security officials, the AP writes.

At least ten shells fell on the heavily fortified area around 4pm local time, the AP reports.

The shells are believed to be 122 mm, crashing in over a three-minute period. The explosions were so close together in space and time that it is believed that an experienced mortar crew launched the shells, using more than one launcher.

As regular readers know I tend to poke fun at many of the reports emanating from Iraq because they are textbook examples of fuzzy, magic shoe thinking and a complete lack of ability to assess reality. However, there is nothing funny here today.

Not only are they leaving bodies, Iraqi and American, all over the cityscape and countryside, they’ve been attempting the odd attack inside the Green Zone for some months now. We had the inside job bombings of the Prime Minister’s car, and then the Parliament’s cafeteria, and now this.

There is no way to avoid the seriousness of this event. To produce an attack like this takes a level of expertise and competence that does not bode well for the US Army.

A 122mm mortar is a big unit. It’s technically man-portable, but is more often carried, and fired from a truck. I dug up some specs from its smaller brother, the WWII-era 120mm mortar:

Barrel length (L/15.5): 1,862 mm (73.3 in)
Bore length: 1,536 mm (60.47 in)
Weight in action: 280.1 kg (617 lb)
Weight travelling: 477.6 kg (1.052 lb)

Perhaps some remember the early days when the insurgents/Ba’athist dead enders/Sunnis/Al-Qaeda/resistance was firing 122mm rockets into the CPA compound from the backs of trucks?

More of the same.