Iraq Planes Bomb During Iran Parades

Iraqi warplanes today bombed six Iranian cities where thousands of people were marching in the streets to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution. Tehran vowed to retaliate by attacking Baghdad.

The state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency said only that “some” people were killed or injured in the attacks on the holy city of Qom and on Nahavand, Borujerd, Kuhdasht, Urumieh and Tabriz. .

In a dispatch monitored in Athens, IRNA said Iraqi jets attacked residential areas during official street demonstrations called to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s climb to power.

Thousands of people were outdoors at the time of the attacks, IRNA said.

Tehran Buzzed

Iraqi jets also buzzed five other Iranian cities, breaking the sound barrier in the skies over Tehran, the capital, and Malayer, Arak, Hamedan and Ilam, the news agency reported.

Some Tehran residents said they heard three explosions, apparently sonic booms, and then saw anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles fired into the air about 10:30 a.m.

At the time, thousands of people were participating in an anniversary march, Tehran radio said.

Iran vowed to retaliate quickly for the raids on the cities, which have come under frequent attack since the two countries went to war in September, 1980.

“Iran’s Islamic combatants will target Baghdad in the coming hours,” a spokesman for the war information headquarters in Tehran said.

Evacuation Suggested

He advised Baghdad residents to evacuate their city, and added that Iranian artillery would also target “military and economic sites” in Iraqi border cities.

There was no immediate response from Iraq, which has taken advantage of its superior air power to carry out repeated raids on Iranian cities since Jan. 9, when Iran launched an offensive east of Basra, Iraq’s second largest city.

About 3,000 people are believed to have been killed in the Iraqi air raids and missile and artillery attacks on Iranian cities in the last month. Iran has retaliated by attacking Iraqi cities; no Iraqi casualty figures have been released.

In the last three years, Iraqi planes several times have bombed and strafed crowds of Iranians taking part in official marches or mass prayer meetings.

Iraq claims all of its jets can strike targets anywhere inside Iran. But military analysts in Athens believe only 10 of Iraq’s 60 French-made Mirage jets have the range to cross Iran.