Iraqi Jets Attack Iran After Blast Jolts Baghdad

Iraq sent waves of jets over Iran on Tuesday to strike at cities and military camps after an explosion in Baghdad that Iran said was caused by one of its long-range missiles.

It was the third straight day that the two Muslim nations, at war for almost five years, reported staging attacks on enemy civilian targets. An Iraqi military spokesman said 105 warplanes raided Iranian targets during the day.

The two sides accused each other of provoking the attacks on population centers, with each describing its action as retaliatory.

Ground-to-Ground Missile

Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency, monitored in Nicosia, Cyprus, said Iranian forces fired a ground-to-ground missile at Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, shortly before dawn in retaliation for overnight Iraqi air raids on Tehran.

Tehran radio said the Iraqi air attacks killed or wounded 39 people. Scores have been killed or wounded in similar attacks on Iranian cities in the last two days, Iranian sources said.

Residents of Baghdad, reached by telephone from Bahrain, said a blast shook the city minutes after they had eaten an early breakfast in preparation for the day’s Ramadan fast. Both Iran and Iraq are observing Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of daytime fasting.

Residents said that clouds of smoke billowed from Baghdad’s city center but added that they knew nothing of casualties or damage.

Iraqi officials declined to comment on the explosion.

An Iraqi military spokesman said a morning wave of 63 jets raided the Iranian cities of Sar-e Pol-e Zahab, Gilan-e Gharb, Ilam and Abadan and military camps at Baneh, Dezh Shahpur, Khaneh and Ein Khosh.

42 Planes Strike

In the afternoon, 42 warplanes again struck Abadan, Gilan-e Gharb and Ilam, as well as the city of Dehloran and the camps at Khaneh and Baneh, he said, adding that all planes returned unharmed.

Tehran radio, however, said some of the bombs fell on a camp holding Iraqi prisoners of war. It said 34 people were killed or wounded in Tuesday’s raids in cities outside Tehran.