Sheraton Hotel struck in Baghdad
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 CNN's Walter Rodgers on mortar attacks in Baghdad and Fallujah.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad was hit early Wednesday morning by what appeared to be a rocket or mortar, eyewitnesses said. It's not yet known if there are any casualties.
CNN's Walter Rodgers, who is staying in the Palestine Hotel across the street, said several journalists, contractors and businessmen are staying at the Sheraton Hotel. He described the blast as "huge."
The attack, which came at 4:10 a.m. (8:10 p.m. Tuesday ET), left an approximately 5-foot by 5-foot hole in the east side of the Sheraton. Video from the scene showed large, broken slabs of concrete on the ground.
It appears the sixth floor of the Sheraton Hotel was hit, Rodgers said. Fox News teams are staying on the fourth floor but said they were not hit.
The Sheraton is considered a "hard" target because concrete barriers around the hotel make it difficult to put a car bomb near the building.
In November, the Palestine and Sheraton hotels were both hit in a rocket attack.
On Tuesday, top Shiite clerics pledged allegiance to the Palestinians after Israel's assassination of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Later, angry Muslims took to the streets.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq, urged Muslims to unite against Israel and restore what he said belongs to the Palestinians.
Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric with a powerful base in a poor Baghdad neighborhood, said Iraqi Muslims support the Palestinians.
"We as Muslims stand hand in hand with our brethren in Palestine," he said. "And we say to them that we are ready to extend all forms of assistance, be it moral or physical."
In a statement Tuesday, al-Sadr said the Hamas founder was a hero who stood in the face of tyrants and founded a movement that "infuriated enemies."
Al-Sadr said the assassination was a "an aggression against a man of virtue and jihad."
Israel killed Yassin in a missile strike Monday as the founder of Hamas left a Gaza mosque in his wheelchair.
Israel defended its attack, calling Yassin the "godfather" of all suicide bombers who directed attacks against Israel that killed hundreds.
The U.S. State Department considers the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization a terrorist group.
Anger welled up in parts of the "Sunni Triangle," a region north and west of Baghdad that's a hotbed of anti-U.S. sentiment.
About 1,000 people gathered to protest the Israeli action at a government center in Ramadi, 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of the Iraqi capital. It was peaceful until someone tried to fire a rocket-propelled grenade and another person ran a truck into the center's gate, a U.S. military source said.
Police moved in and dispersed the crowd, some of whom threw stones, the source said.
Two Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members were injured, and protesters set ablaze two police trucks before Iraqi authorities stabilized the situation, the source said.
Protests were reported in nearby Fallujah as well.
The international community also condemned Israel's attack. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Yassin's assassination a violation of international law and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it was unacceptable.
Israel's most important ally, the United States, criticized the move as a hindrance to peace but stopped short of condemning it.
Mohammed Bahrululum -- the current president of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council -- sent a letter on behalf of the 25-member group to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, expressing anger and shock at Yassin's assassination.
Other developments
Two Iraqi civilians were killed and six others wounded Tuesday in a mortar attack on an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps training area in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the U.S. military said. Also in the Mosul region, a U.S. soldier from the Stryker Brigade Combat Team died from a noncombat-related shooting Monday, the Army said Tuesday.Gunmen opened fire Tuesday on Iraqi police on patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said. The early morning attack killed two policemen and wounded two others, one seriously, police said. In Hillah, south of Baghdad, eight Iraqi policemen and a civilian driver heading to a police academy were shot and killed Tuesday morning when their minibus was ambushed, Iraqi Police Maj. Khyder Obayes said.In Baghdad, four U.S. soldiers were wounded as they searched for insurgents as part of the Operation Iron Promise sweep, a military spokesman said. The 1st Armored Division soldiers were wounded by rockets, homemade bombs and rifles and other small arms, said U.S. Army Maj. Dave Gercken. The soldiers have returned to duty. Seven opposition personnel were captured Monday, Gercken said.U.S. officials said they have released more than 270 prisoners from the Baghdad Correctional Facility because they are no longer considered a threat to security. The U.S.-led coalition has imprisoned about 1,400 civilians because of suspected criminal activity. Some 8,000 civilians are in the prison because the coalition deems them a threat to security forces.In Najaf, south of Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, opened a new power plant and participated in a town hall meeting with more than two dozen Iraqi clerics, government and business leaders, academics and tribal leaders. In the southern Iraqi city of Basra, 13 British military personnel were injured Monday in two explosions, the British Ministry of Defense said. None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening, the ministry said.CNN's Kevin Flower, Sue Kroll, Kianne Sadeq and Auday Sadik contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
