Iraqi Raids on Iranian Cities Kill 57 and Wound 130

Iraqi missiles and bombs rained down on Iranian cities, including Tehran, on Saturday, killing at least 57 people and wounding 130 in the bloodiest strike in nearly a week.

Iran said it responded by firing missiles at the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and at the southern port city of Basra, the country’s second-largest city.

Iran said the rocket and bomb barrage on Tehran alone killed 29 civilians and wounded 60, raising the toll to at least 94 killed and more than 210 wounded in the six-day onslaught on the capital.

Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency said 28 civilians were killed and at least 70 others were wounded in raids on other Iranian cities and towns. It also said that three Iraqi warplanes were shot down, but Iraq denied that claim.

The Iraqi News Agency confirmed that Iranian long-range artillery shelled Basra and several border towns and that many civilians were killed. Throughout the so-called war of the cities, Iraq has reported many casualties but given no exact figures.

The agency also said that one Iranian missile hit a residential district of Baghdad and “many Iraqis, including women and children, were killed or wounded.”

Appeal for Help

Both Iran and Iraq appealed to international bodies to help end the carnage. The United States, however, said it saw no change in Iran’s policy on ending the war and saw no breakthrough in diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

Iraq said its air force bombed Iranian cities and towns, including Hamadan and Dezful in the western part of the country, and fired six rockets at Tehran as part of its campaign to force Iran to accept a U.N.-ordered cease-fire in the war, which began in September, 1980.

Since Monday, Iraq has reported firing 33 missiles into Tehran, a city of 6 million, and three into the holy city of Qom south of the Iranian capital.

Tehran Radio said that the latest Iraqi missiles crashed into residential sections of the Iranian capital and that more than 30 missiles have hit civilian targets there since the offensive began, including three hospitals, a girls’ school and several houses.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati sent a telegram to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, calling on the humanitarian organization to help end the Iraqi missile attacks.

The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Velayati as requesting that the Red Cross send fact-finding teams to the bombed residential quarters in Tehran.

The United States said Friday night that it finds no change in Iran’s policy on ending the Persian Gulf War based on Tehran’s latest letter to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, in which Iran declared it would accept the “implementation” of the U.N. plan for a cease-fire but stopped short of formally endorsing the peace proposal.

Iran also offered Friday to end the tit-for-tat strikes if Iraq agreed. But Iraq has promised to continue the attacks until Iran accepts the cease-fire. In the past, Tehran has said it would refuse to observe any cease-fire until Iraq is branded as the aggressor.