20 Killed or Wounded by Iraqi Raid on Iran’s Religious Center

Iraq said Sunday that its jets bombed Iran’s shrine city of Qom, Tehran and at least nine other Iranian cities in a new wave of air raids aimed at forcing Iran to the negotiating table to end their 6 1/2-year-old war.

At least 20 civilians were killed or wounded in the pre-dawn raid on Qom, seat of Iran’s religious hierarchy, according to Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency, which was monitored in Nicosia.

IRNA also said Iranian forces shot down an Iraqi MIG-25 in the raids with a surface-to-air missile. The loss of the plane had been reported in Baghdad communiques.

Repeated Attacks

Qom, 100 miles south of Tehran, has been repeatedly bombed in the escalating “war of the cities” that began Jan. 9 when Iran launched a major offensive east of the southern Iraqi port city of Basra.

IRNA said 25 civilians were killed and scores wounded in air strikes on “residential areas” in Tabriz, Dezful, Salmas, Pol-e Dokhtar, Khorramabad, Kuhdasht, Al Goudarz and Doroud.

Baghdad radio, monitored in Nicosia, said Iraqi pilots scored “devastating hits” on a number of cities. In addition to the attacks on Tehran and Qom, it confirmed raids on Khorramabad, Kuhdasht, Pol-e Dokhtar, Tabriz and Dezful and five other cities not listed by Iran’s state news agency.

Iraqi warplanes have flown about 200 sorties against more than 35 Iranian towns and cities in the past month as part of Iraq’s policy to use its air force superiority to bring Iran to the negotiation table in the Persian Gulf War.

10th Air Raid

Iran claimed its anti-aircraft missile defenses drove off Sunday’s attack on Tehran. It was the 10th air raid on the sprawling Iranian capital of nearly 6 million people in the last four days.

Iran said it retaliated with attacks Sunday against Iraqi troops around Basra, Iraq’s second largest city.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards, fanatical followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, hold a bridgehead six miles east of Basra.

The Iranians also said that a surface-to-surface missile struck “economic and military” targets in Basra late Saturday.