More Innocents Martyred
Saturday March 29, 2003
Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News War
Correspondent BAGHDAD, 29 March 2003 — More than 50 people were killed yesterday
in an air raid on a popular Baghdad market after the United States
unleashed some of the heaviest airstrikes of the war on this city. US ground troops advancing toward Baghdad appeared to pause to
regroup and strengthen supply lines. Saudi Arabia told a UN Security Council meeting in New York that it
would continue its efforts in association with other members of the
international community to find a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis. “War is an evidence of the weakness of the United Nations,
especially the Security Council, in carrying out its mission of
protecting international security and stability,” said Fowzi Shubokshi,
the Kingdom’s permanent representative to the United Nations. Riyadh reiterated its opposition to the military occupation of Iraq.
“The Iraqi people are capable of administering their affairs. They
don’t need any foreign party to manage their affairs,” the
ambassador said. In Baghdad, Dr. Osama Sakhari at Al-Noor Hospital said he had counted
55 people killed and more than 47 wounded from the air raid at the
market in the city’s Shula neighborhood. Arabic language television stations, which put the death toll at more
than 50, said searchers were looking for more victims, and showed
pictures of people carrying coffins out of the hospital, which was
surrounded by large crowds. Abu Dhabi Television said US cruise missiles may have hit the market
and showed a gaping hole on one street and damaged cars. US officials
said they had no knowledge of such reports. Earlier, US defense officials said a radar-avoiding B-2 stealth
bomber had dropped two earth-shattering 4,600-pound bombs on a
communications center in downtown Baghdad. It was the first use of the
so-called “bunker-busters” on this city since the war began nine
days ago. Two communications centers were damaged in the capital. One big
building had been struck at its base. A tangled pile of smoldering
rubble was all that was left of a smaller facility. Many telephone lines
were knocked out. Playing on US and British fears of being sucked into bloody street
battles, especially in a capital heavily defended by elite Republican
Guards, Iraq swore to fight on and promised “living hell” for the
invaders. And Iraqis converged on mosques for Friday prayers, enraged rather
than cowed by the US bombardment. “You can see and hear the missiles and bombs raining down on us and
yet Muslims are coming to the house of God to pray,” said the preacher
at a mosque. Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf said overnight raids on
the capital had killed seven civilians and wounded 92. Witnesses said
eight more people were killed when a Baghdad office of the ruling Baath
Party was demolished in a later raid. Both tolls were given before the
deaths at the market. |
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