Iran, Iraq Continuing Deadly Duel of Missiles

More missiles flew at Baghdad and Tehran on Friday in the long-range duel between Iraq and Iran, which has taken scores of lives in the five days since it began.

Iran said 17 civilians, including four infants, were killed Friday, and Iraq said women and children were among the casualties in Baghdad. Iraq has not given specific casualty figures since the missile exchange began Monday.

In Tehran, demonstrators marched on the Soviet Embassy chanting, “Death to Russia!” Iran says the Soviet Union supplied the Iraqi missiles, but the Soviets deny it.

Police ringed the embassy in Tehran and the consulate in the central city of Esfahan, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said.

5-Missile Exchange

Iraq said it fired three surface-to-surface missiles on Tehran, and the Iranians said they countered with two launched at Baghdad. An Iraqi military communique confirmed one Iranian missile strike on the capital.

The attacks began early in the afternoon, breaking a 30-hour lull in the latest round in the “war of the cities,” which has killed thousands of people since the conflict began in September, 1980.

In the five days, Iraq says it has hit Tehran with 27 missiles and Qom, the Iranian holy city, with 3. Iran says it has fired 12 into Baghdad, and Iraq has confirmed only 9.

47 Iranian Deaths Reported

Iran has reported 47 people killed and more than 100 wounded in Tehran and no casualties in Qom. Iraq is not specific about casualties but speaks of many civilians killed or wounded.

Although Iraq claims to have developed its own missiles, Western military analysts believe they are Soviet-made Scud-B rockets with strap-on boosters that enable them to reach Tehran and Qom, both slightly less than 300 miles from the border. They say the probable source is North Korea.

Iran also uses Scud-Bs, supplied by its Arab allies Syria and Libya, but does not need boosters because Baghdad is only 80 miles from the frontier.

A Iranian dispatch said a missile exploded in a “densely populated residential area” of Tehran on Friday, destroying eight houses and 20 cars.

17 Bodies Found in Debris

The official agency said that 17 bodies were found under the debris and that 15 civilians were wounded. It reported several civilians wounded in another missile attack.

In a sermon at weekly Muslim prayers Friday, the Ayatollah Abdulkarim Moussavi Ardabili, the chief justice, said Iran would stop the missiles if Iraq did, but otherwise would “retaliate severely by showering missiles and artillery fire” on Iraqi cities, IRNA reported.

It said later that Iranian gunners fired two missiles at military targets in Baghdad. Iraq said one reached the capital and hit a residential area, killing or wounding civilians, including women and children, and destroying houses and shops.