U.S. rocket strike near Baghdad hospital wounds 20

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military fired rockets at a target near a major hospital in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, wounding 20 people and damaging several ambulances, the head of the hospital said.

No patients were wounded at the hospital in the Sadr City stronghold of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but 20 people at the scene of the blasts had been hurt, said Dr. Wi'am al-Jawahiri, manager of al-Sadr hospital.

Jawahiri said windows at the hospital were shattered when three missiles hit what the U.S. military in Iraq called a militant "command and control" centre around 10 a.m.

"While I believe the target was not the hospital, we could have been informed before they did such a thing. At least we could have taken some precautions," Jawahiri told Reuters.

The U.S. military said precision-guided munitions were used to destroy the militant facility in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling Shi'ite gunmen loyal to Sadr for several weeks as part of a big government crackdown on militias.

Such weapons could either be rockets fired from launchers on the ground or helicopters.

Colonel Jerry O'Hara, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the operation was "time sensitive" and targeted a "command and control" centre that was used to plan attacks against the Iraqi people as well as Iraqi and U.S. security forces.

"We take great care to prevent any collateral damage and will continue to do so. We don't target civilians and regret any casualties," O'Hara said.