A roadside bomb exploded near a convoy carrying Iraqi generals in the southern city of Basra on Wednesday, but the officials were unhurt, one of the officers said. Major-General Mohammed al-Askari, spokesman for Iraq's Defense Ministry, said he was in a convoy with Basra's security Chief, Lieutenant-General Mohan al-Firaiji, when the blast went off in the Hayaniya neighbourhood. "It was a roadside bomb. It exploded near our vehicles but nothing happened to me or Firaiji," Askari told Reuters after the blast. An Iraqi television correspondent was wounded in the leg, Askari said, adding that he might have been hit by a bullet. There were reports of sporadic clashes in Basra on Wednesday, but Askari denied there had been any fresh fighting.
