BAGHDAD — A series of rockets or mortar rounds struck Camp Victory, killing two members of the U.S.-led coalition and wounding 40 other people on the sprawling headquarters for U.S. forces in Iraq, the military said today.

Most troops stationed at the base are American but there are small contingents from other countries.

The military said those wounded in Wednesday's attack included two "third-country nationals," meaning they were not Americans or Iraqis. More details on the attack were not immediately released.

U.S. bases in Iraq frequently face so-called "indirect fire," the military's term for a rocket or mortar attack, but Camp Victory is well-entrenched on the capital's western outskirts and such heavy casualties are rare.

On Sept. 11, one person was killed and 11 were wounded in a rocket attack on the complex, which includes lakeside palaces formerly used by Saddam Hussein that now house the headquarters of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq. The U.S. military said a 240 mm rocket provided to Shiite extremists by Iran was used in that attack.

By contrast, the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which houses the American and British embassies and the Iraqi government headquarters in central Baghdad, is far more vulnerable and has faced a series of deadly strikes in recent months.

U.S. commanders have said training and weapons provided by Tehran is helping militants to improve their aim.

In today's violence, clashes between suspected al-Qaida gunmen and police at checkpoints near Baqouba killed at least one officer and wounded two others, according to a police official who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

The pre-dawn attacks lasted about three hours and occurred at two checkpoints in Abbara, north of Baqouba, which is about 35 miles northeast of BaghdaD. One gunman was killed and several others fled, police said.

Just east of Baqouba, suspected al-Qaida gunmen took control of five Sunni villages, killing six people, including two police officers and wounding five others, a police official said. The attacks, which began Wednesday evening and continued until this morning, happened two days after locals, supported by U.S. forces, had cleared the village of insurgents, the official said.