New York Times, 25 Jan 10: In a coordinated attack as devastating as it was ruthlessly efficient, three bombs unleashed minutes apart on Monday wrecked landmark hotels in Baghdad . . . . The Ministry of Interior said that 36 people had been killed and 71 wounded. While the death toll paled in comparison with earlier attacks — at least 122 in August and 155 in October — they seemed to signal a new target. So far, the campaign has wrecked four government ministries, a provincial headquarters, a courthouse, colleges and a bank.

The three bombs exploded roughly 10 minutes apart. The first struck the Ishtar Sheraton at 3:28 p.m., followed three minutes later by another at the Babylon Hotel and then, at 3:37, one at the Hamra Hotel. Both the Hamra and the Sheraton are home to many of the capital’s foreign press corps, though no foreign journalists were reported killed. . . . Iraqi officials blamed the earlier attacks on Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown terrorist group that Iraqi and American officials believe has foreign leadership, acting jointly with former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party.