MOSUL, Iraq — At least one explosion in a U.S. military base mess hall in Mosul killed at least 24 people and wounded more than 60 on Tuesday. A radical Islamic group claimed responsibility for the rocket attack in the northern Iraqi city.

Lt. Bill Costello, speaking from Fort Lewis, Wash., where many of the soldiers were based, said he did not know exactly how many of the casualties were Americans and how many were Iraqis.

"There is no information on how many soldiers were killed, whether they were Fort Lewis-based in part or total," Costello told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said seven of the dead were from its KBR subsidiary or its subcontractors. Halliburton and its subcontractors have lost 62 personnel while performing services under our contracts in the Kuwait-Iraq region, she said...

U.S. military explosives experts are invesitigating the cause of the explosion which gives further credence to the rumors indicating the explosion may have been from within rather than from a rocket attack.