The World - News from March 7, 1988

American helicopters drew heavy machine-gun fire from an oil platform and unidentified small boats in the central Persian Gulf, U.S. officials said. The aircraft took “evasive action” and did not return the fire, they said. No casualties were reported. Meanwhile, Iran and Iraq continued a week-old escalation of their “war of the cities,” battering each other’s capitals and other towns with missiles and warplane raids. The Iraqi News Agency said that Iraq fired five long-range missiles into Tehran and that its jet fighters bombed 10 Iranian cities. Iran said it launched two missiles into Baghdad and four into other Iraqi cities, including Basra in the south, while Iranian warplanes bombed four cities.