Iraq says it has more POWs

Middle East Online ^ | 3-24-03

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Sahhaf says Iraqi troops foiled attempted British-US landings in north, south as 14 dead in Sunday's air raids.

BAGHDAD - Iraq has taken more US or British prisoners of war than previously shown on state television, Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said Monday.

He said the other prisoners may also be shown on television.

"Yesterday (Sunday) was a black day for the American and British forces," Sahhaf told reporters.

"A number of other American and British mercenaries have been taken prisoners and it is possible, in our judgment, to show some of them," he said without further details.

Iraqi state television and the Qatari satellite channel Al-Jazeera on Sunday showed footage of five American soldiers, including one woman, believed to be prisoners of war. They also showed what appeared to be pictures of several US soldiers killed in battle.

Iraqi troops have foiled attempted British and US landings in key towns both southwest and north of the capital, Sahhaf added.

"Yesterday, they tried to land mercenaries near Najaf and Karbala, but they were encircled and fled," Sahhaf said of two Shiite Muslim pilgrimage towns southwest of Baghdad.

"They tried the same thing, in the north, near Kirkuk, but were pursued and fled," the minister added, after coalition warplanes mounted morning air raids on Iraqi frontlines near the oil-rich city.

British and US air raids around Iraq have caused hundreds of civilian casualties, said Sahhaf.

"Preliminary figures" showed Sunday's raids had resulted in 14 dead and 122 wounded in the southern port of Basra, 10 dead and 32 wounded in the Shiite Muslim pilgrimage city of Karbala, 194 wounded in the capital and 63 wounded in Babylon, the minister told a news conference here.

[goldstategop]

Black Beret has all but admitted he intends to keep breaking the Geneva Convention after The Boss said Iraq would obey it. If that isn't a tip the The Boss is out of action I don't know why whoever's running the country feels free to commit atrocities. Perhaps they really do want to go with the reputation they've established themselves as being infamous for.