Bomb by Saddam loyalists - U.S.
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Iraqis stand next to crater made by the bomb outside the restaurant.
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A car bomb rips through a Baghdad restaurant during New Year's Eve celebrations.
CNN's Satinder Bindra reports on violence in Baghdad and Kirkuk, Iraq.
CNN's Satinder Bindra on Iraqis' anger at insurgents.
CNN's Karl Penhaul on the Iraq Civil Defense Corps.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Bombers who killed at least five people at a Baghdad restaurant were probably supporters of ousted President Saddam Hussein, a U.S. military commander has said.
The car bomb wrecked a restaurant in the center of the Iraqi capital Wednesday night as patrons celebrated the coming of the new year.
The exact death toll and details of the attack remained unclear Thursday.
The U.S. military reported eight people were killed, Iraqi police said seven were dead and 20 wounded, and Gen. Ahmed Kadhim Ibrahim, Iraq's national police chief, told CNN five people -- all Iraqis -- were killed and 14 wounded.
Ibrahim also blamed the attack on a suicide bomber, but the Coalition Provisional Authority said the vehicle -- a green BMW -- was remotely detonated.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the coalition's deputy chief of operations, told CNN: "We have no indications right now who is responsible, but the method that was used would indicate that it probably was a member of the former regime who put the car bomb (beside) the restaurant when it blew up."
He dismissed reports from Iraqi officials that 1,000 pounds of explosives were used in the attack. Kimmitt said "we had information that indicated about 400 pounds of high explosives and artillery shells" were used.
The restaurant, which was frequented by Westerners, was flattened in the blast, and flames shot up into the sky immediately following the explosion at 9:22 p.m. (1822 GMT).
Rescuers and Iraqi police, many of them wearing flak jackets, combed through the rubble, searching for possible survivors.
Two U.S. armored personnel carriers rolled into the area about 30 minutes after the explosion, and about 30 to 40 U.S. soldiers conducted a sweep of the area searching for other possible explosives.
Gen. Ahmed Kadhim Ibrahim, Iraq's senior deputy interior minister and Iraqi police chief, said on Thursday that authorities had information six days ago that such an attack was possible, but no specific target was mentioned.
He said he ordered police to stay alert and to set up checkpoints. Restaurants hosting New Year's Eve parties were informed not to let cars park nearby.
David Garcia, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Times, said three of the paper's correspondents and four other staff were wounded in the attack. They were being treated for injuries that were not life-threatening.
The U.S. military said none of its personnel was among the dead or wounded. It said members of the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division were at the scene to investigate the type of explosive used in the bombing.
CNN's Satinder Bindra, reporting from the scene, said three or four buildings were flattened by the explosion, which took place in a largely residential and business district of the Iraqi capital.
"It was a very powerful blast," Bindra said.
Bindra said windows on buildings more than 200 feet away from the primary blast site were blown out and the street was littered with debris. He said four cars were "smashed to smithereens."
One man who emerged from the building told CNN there were many people inside the restaurant when the bomb went off. Many of the patrons were Westerners, he said.
The U.S. military has been on heightened alert, fearing insurgents could launch an attack to coincide with the New Year's holiday.
Earlier in the day, two roadside bombs detonated in Baghdad, one targeting a U.S. military convoy.
Iraqi sources said an 8-year-old boy died in that attack, which also injured five U.S. soldiers and three Iraqi civil defense personnel, according to Dempsey.
