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25 feared killed as US, Britain pound Iraq again

At least 25 people were reported killed in Baghdad and 75 wounded as US and British forces bombed Iraq for the second straight night as part of Operation Desert Fox.

The second wave of air strikes was said to be more intensive than the first one yesterday.

Reports from Baghdad said about 13 loud explosions, apparently caused by incoming Cruise missiles and bombs, rocked the city last night while air raid sirens blared in the background and anti-aircraft fire lit up the sky.

The fresh attacks took place even as top American officials were claiming in Washington that the first phase of the campaign had hit 50 targets in Iraq, including many key military installations.

The raids were reported around 2200 hours and there were more strikes around 0400 hours on Friday. No warplanes were visible over the Iraqi capital, the reports said. The all-clear was sounded in Baghdad at about 0445 hours local time today.

Media reports from Baghdad quoted Iraqi Health Minister Umeed Madhat Mubarak as saying that at least 25 people were killed in the capital and 75 wounded in the attacks so far.

Iraqi officials indicated that hospitals were facing severe shortages of medical supplies and might not be able to cope with large numbers of casualties.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al Sahaf had told a media conference yesterday that the first wave of air strikes had hit the headquarters of the Baghdad security police and military intelligence and several factories.

"They attacked a district of Baghdad which is heavily populated with civilians," he said, adding that the strikes had caused "heavy casualties and collateral damage".

Radio Baghdad said a house belonging to Hala, the youngest of the three daughters of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, was also hit. She was not in the house at that time. The report said Hussein had gone over yesterday to inspect the damage.

Regional news agencies said two powerful explosions occurred not far from the information ministry building, from where foreign correspondents are operating.

As anti-aircraft fire intensified, cars on the streets began to speed up. Several more explosions were heard. There was smoke in many parts of the city and an orange glow in the sky. Ambulances were also seen moving on the streets.

Angered by the attacks, Russia has recalled its ambassador from Washington in protest. Russia has demanded an immediate end to the air strikes, saying they could destabilise the region.

The US and British action is aimed at punishing Iraq for continued obstruction of UN weapons inspectors, a charge that it has denied.

Apart from US B-52 bombers from the Indian Ocean base of Diego Garcia and navy fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, British Tornado jets based in Kuwait also took part in the attacks for the first time last night, regional news agencies said.

The Cruise missile attacks were aimed at Iraqi arsenals, airports, command structures and the elite Republican Guard, the reports said.

US Defence Secretary William Cohen and Army General Henry Shelton, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told reporters in Washington that among the targets hit during the first wave of bombings were Republican Guard barracks, anti-aircraft facilities, airfields and military command-and-control centres.

"Our targets include Iraq's air defence system, its command-and-control system, airfields and other military infrastructure and facilities", Cohen said.

General Shelton showed "before and after" pictures of some of the sites hit by the missiles, including Iraq's military intelligence headquarters and the Republican Guards barracks. He said the buildings were intact before the raids and reduced to rubble after.

He said more than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired in the first phase of the campaign. Some 70 US navy aircraft were also involved, he said.

"There have been no American casualties and we are achieving good coverage of our targets", Cohen said.

Various reports said Iraqi troops appeared to be offering little resistance to the attacks. There have been no reports of Iraqi aircraft flying or any Iraqi air defence units homing in on incoming US or British aircraft.

US and Britain decided on the military operation against Iraq after Richard Butler, chairman of the UN Special Commission charged with the task of dismantling Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, reported to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this week that Iraq was continuing to obstruct his inspectors.

The UN Security Council will not lift the crippling economic sanctions imposed on Iraq for its August 1990 invasion and seven-month occupation of Kuwait until UNSCOM certifies its task has been accomplished.

Iraq says it has co-operated fully with UNSCOM and accuses American and British members of the inspection teams of deliberately dragging the procedures so as to prolong the sanctions on Iraq.

"Our mission is clear, to destroy (Iraq's) capability to develop and to use weapons of mass destruction. I believe we have achieved that mission," US President Bill Clinton said in Washington yesterday.

Cohen hoped Hussein would, after the attacks of the last two days, "see the wisdom of finally complying by allowing UNSCOM to return and do its job".

If not, the US would pursue a strategy of "military and economic containment", he said.

UNI

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