Many Killed, Wounded as 2 Iran Missiles Hit Baghdad

MANAMA, Bahrain —  Two Iranian long-range missiles crashed into Baghdad today, killing and wounding many civilians in Iran’s first strike on the Iraqi capital in three months, Iraqi state radio said. Iraq responded with a deadly bombing raid on Tehran.

The attacks escalated a new round of the “War of the Cities,” the strikes by Iran and Iraq on civilians that have left thousands of people dead during nearly eight years of war.

A spokesman for the Iraqi armed forces said that the first missile hit Baghdad at 2:45 a.m. and that the second slammed into the city 20 minutes later, damaging shops, homes and cars, Baghdad radio said.

‘Caused Martyrdom’

“The two missiles landed . . . (in) residential areas and caused martyrdom to a number of citizens, including a number of women and children,” the spokesman said.

No specific number of casualties was available.

Iran usually attacks Baghdad, just 78 miles from the border battlefront, with Soviet-made Scud-B long-range surface-to-surface missiles. The missiles have a range of more than 100 miles and carry a 1,000-pound warhead.

Iran’s missile attack was the first on Baghdad since November, when at least 10 people were killed in an attack on a commercial district. More than 30 Iraqi schoolchildren were killed last autumn when an Iranian missile slammed into a playground.

Tehran Bombed

Twelve hours after today’s attack, avenging Iraqi planes soared untouched over 300 miles of Iranian territory and attacked Tehran for the second time since Friday, Iran’s state radio said.

The radio said the warplanes bombed residential areas and a hospital, killing 16 people and wounding dozens more. It said several newborn babies were among the wounded at the unidentified hospital.

Iran said Sunday that it bombed the southern Iraqi city of Basra to avenge Iraqi air raids in Iran that left 22 people dead in Tehran and the northern border town of Saqqez.

An Iraqi military spokesman said Iranian forces also shelled civilian districts in Basra and three other cities along the 900-mile battlefront on Saturday and Sunday, killing scores of Iraqis.