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Air raids pound Baghdad, 8 die in Baath office
They're gonna offer them citizenship? Reuters correspondent Nadim Ladki quoted residents as saying an attack on the Baath office in Baghdad's Mansour district at around noon demolished the party's neighborhood office and several nearby houses. "It basically turned the block into rubble," Ladki said. Local residents said they had pulled eight bodies from the wreckage, including Baath Party militia members and several civilians. That was what was supposed to happen, except for the civilians. Toldja to stay away from the Baathists, though. Just because they're dead meat, you don't have to be... The thud of explosions and rattle of anti-aircraft fire continued beyond midday. A large fire blazed on the west bank of the Tigris river and thick, billowing smoke rose on the horizon after dozens of blasts in the eastern and southern fringes of the capital. Iraqi defense positions spat anti-aircraft fire above the rooftops as US missiles hit government offices, including the ministries of information, planning and foreign affairs. The US military said two precision-guided missiles from one of its bat-wing, radar-evading B-2 stealth bombers had taken out a key communications tower on the east bank of the Tigris. Ladki said at least one missile plowed into the ground floor of a large telecommunications building in Rashid Street. Militiamen cleared rubble from the smashed and smoldering al-Alawiya telecoms center in nearby Saadun Street. "This is a civilian communications center, why did they hit it?" said one resident. Try this: "Mahmoud! The radio's being jammed!" "Then call them on the phone!" The raids knocked out many telephone lines -- some of the first bombing damage to civilian infrastructure. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-03-28 |
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