Explosions rock Iraq's capital as Cheney begins visit

Baghdad: Explosions rocked Iraq's capital on Monday as US Vice-President Dick Cheney landed to meet with Iraqi officials and tout security gains ahead of the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion.

Helicopter gunships could be seen circling the capital's downtown district and over the heavily fortified Green Zone after the blasts, but no details were immediately available on the cause of the explosions.

Cheney landed at Baghdad International Airport, then flew by helicopter for talks with US military and diplomatic officials and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. It is Cheney's third vice presidential trip to Iraq where 160,000 American troops are deployed and the US death toll is nearing 4,000.

Violence has dropped throughout the capital since, with an influx of some 30,000 additional U.S. soldiers sent to Iraq last year. The US military has said attacks have fallen by about 60 percent since last February.

US Senator John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, was in Baghdad Sunday for a two-day visit with Iraqi and US diplomatic and military officials, including Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, whom he met just before the Iraqi leader was to hold talks with Cheney.

The trip by McCain, who has linked his political future to US military success in the nearly five-year-old war, coincided with the 20th anniversary of a horrific chemical weapons attack in northern Iraq.