Iran rockets hit Baghdad, houses wrecked

Iraq accuses Iran of firing three rockets at residential districts in Baghdad, wounding one person and destroying several houses September 17, 2000, 07:19 PM BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said Iranian agents fired three rockets at residential districts in Baghdad on Sunday, wounding one person and destroying several houses. "A group of killers, agents of the Iranian regime, fired three 122mm rockets at residential districts in Baghdad," the Iraqi News Agency INA quoted a security official as saying.

The rockets struck at 8 a.m. (0400 GMT).

"This cowardly incident has led to wounding one citizen and damaging a number of residential houses," the official said.

There was no immediate comment from Iran.

Tension between the two neighbors has escalated in recent months over cross-border attacks by the Iraq-based Mujahideen Khalq, the main exiled Iranian opposition group.

Iran has in the past launched retaliatory strikes against Mujahideen positions in Iraq.

INA quoted the security official as saying that Iraqi authorities had found an unexploded fourth rocket and equipment for firing the projectiles.

The official said Iraq held the Iranian government responsible for the attack, a "crime that would not pass without revenge".

Iraqs satellite television channel broadcast pictures of a house with a large crater in the roof and smashed windows. It also showed two cars damaged in the attack and one of the injured victims being treated in a Baghdad hospital.

http://www.arabia.com/article/0,1690,News|29015,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 18, 2000