Iraqi Consulate In Damascus Mortar Shell

DAMASCUS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - A mortar shell hit the Iraqi consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, killing an Iraqi woman and wounding four other people, witnesses said.

State news agency SANA quoted a source at the consulate as saying the shell had also damaged the building.

It was not clear whether the consulate - which is located in the upscale al-Maliki neighbourhood near the United States and Chinese embassies - had been deliberately targeted.

A guard at the consulate said he had been on duty when the woman was killed. "I helped carry her to the ambulance. She was limp and covered with a coat," he said.

Rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad have clung to a crescent of territories around the capital for about a year and a half, and have launched several mortar and rocket attacks into the city centre in recent months.

A mortar shell landed in the Russian embassy compound in central Damascus on Sunday, wounding three people. (Writing by Alexander Dziadosz, editing by Elizabeth Piper)