BAGHDAD, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- In Iraq a U.S. Army convoy and a U.S. Consulate came under attack in separate incidents Monday.
An explosive charge went off in central Iraq targeting a U.S. Army convoy, but did not cause casualties or damage, the interior ministry said.
In the southern port city of Basra, 107-mm rockets hit the U.S. Consulate, a former palace of ousted President Saddam Hussein which also houses the British Consulate.
There was no immediate information about casualties in that attack.
In the meantime, official reports said 156 gunmen have been killed and 246 have been captured by joint U.S.-Iraqi forces conducting a major operation to root out suspected Sunni gunmen from the northern Iraq town of Tel Afer.
In a voice message carried on an Islamic Web Site, Abu Musab Zarqawi, head of al-Qaida in Iraq, threatened to use non-conventional weapons against Iraqi and U.S. forces if they did not stop their offensive on Tel Afer.
Zarqawi claimed that his group had developed a chemical weapon that is ready for use.
