February 13
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Hundreds of Iraqi civilians have been killed and wounded in Baghdad by American bombers. Local reports say two laser-guided precision bombs hit an air-raid shelter in the middle class district of Amiriya, five miles from the centre of the Iraqi capital. So far 235 bodies have been recovered, 12 hours after the attacks at 0445 GMT and 0450 GMT. Continuing fires and intense heat in the bunker complex - which includes a school, mosque and supermarket - have hampered rescue efforts and 300 people are still thought to be trapped inside. Many of the victims are thought to be women and children. White House spokesperson Martin Fitzwater said the loss of civilian life was "truly tragic", but described the bunker as a well-known military target. "We don't know why civilians were at this location. We do know that Saddam Hussein does not share oursanctityfor human life," he continued. One American intelligence officer said the bunker had been transmitting military signals until the moment the bombs hit. Another US spokesperson in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, suggested Saddam had deliberately created a human shield - a tactic he has used before - to inflame international opinion against allied air strikes. The Baghdad shelter manager said: We didn't have a single military man in the shelter. It is allocated to civilians." According to intelligence sources the shelter was built during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s with a 10 to 15-foot thick concrete ceiling, reinforced with steel, designed to withstand electro-magnetic pulses from a thermo-nuclear blast. Both sides are investigating the incident - caught on camera by US planes. Tariq Aziz has called on the UN - meeting tonight - to condemn the "hideous crime". A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar expressed dismay at such a large loss of civilian life. In an official broadcast three days ago the Katanga Government announced Mr Lumumba, 36, had escaped from Kolatey prison farm in the west of the breakaway province. They offered a reward of ?,000 for his recapture and a further ?00 for his accomplices, Maurice Mpolo - Minister of Youth - and Joseph Okito - former Vice-President of the Senate. UN representatives claimed that report was covering up the fact Mr Lumumba - rumoured to have communist sympathies - had already been shot. The authorities in Katanga refused to allow the United Nations Conciliation Commission to visit Mr Lumumba when they were in the capital, Elisabethville, recently. President Moise Tshombe said the disappearances were "none of the United Nations' business". The Secretary General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjold, intervened two weeks ago to ensure Mr Lumumba - the first democratically-elected leader of the newly-independent central African republic - would get a fair trial. The former prime minister was indicted with incitement to murder, over the deaths of 1,000 Baluba people in the province of Kasai. He was arrested in December by army leader Colonel Joseph Mobutu - who went on to take power - after being deposed in September by President Kasavubu. The president had Mr Lumumba moved from Thysville prison, near Leopoldville to the Belgian-backed province of Katanga - known for its hostility to Mr Lumumba - claiming he would be more secure there. Reports of Mr Lumumba and his associates being severely beaten by Belgian-led guards at Elisabethville airport have been widely circulated in the international media. President Tshombe has denied these claims, but they have been supported by Swedish officers at the airport. |
