Iran and Iraq Bomb Each Other’s Border Towns, Military Sites

Iran and Iraq bombed each other’s border towns and military targets Monday but stayed away from Baghdad and Tehran amid fears of a new wave of bloody attacks on major population centers.

Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said a squadron of 16 fighter-bombers raided “economic and military centers” in five Iraqi towns and later hit concentrations of military vehicles and units of the Iraqi army.

The official Iraqi News Agency, monitored in Beirut, reported that its warplanes struck “selected targets” Monday in two Iranian border towns, the city of Abadan at the head of the Persian Gulf and a military camp at Ein Khosh, where “severe losses in lives and equipment” were inflicted.

But Iran stopped short of carrying out its threat Sunday to attack the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in retaliation for Iraqi air strikes on Tehran that left more than 20 people dead and 87 wounded after a seven-week lull.

Both sides in the 56-month-old war said that all their planes returned safely to their bases.