Iran Hits 3 Ships in Persian Gulf; Crewman Killed : Iraqi Jets Also Strike Naval Targets; Combat Intensifies on 3 Fronts

Fighting in the Iran-Iraq War intensified on three fronts Friday, with Iran resuming attacks on merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf and both sides firing missiles into the other’s cities.

Iran also reported advances in its ground offensive in northeast Iraq. It said it captured two small Iraqi towns along the border.

In the Persian Gulf, the Iranians attacked three foreign ships transporting petroleum products from the Arab side of the gulf. Iraq said its warplanes hit two “large naval targets,” a term usually applied to Iranian tankers.

Seaman Killed

A Japanese seaman was killed and at least three South Korean sailors were wounded when a Japanese-owned liquefied gas carrier, the Maria 2, was hit by an Iranian missile off Dubai in the southern Gulf, according to shipping sources.

Also, Iranian Revolutionary Guards in speedboats attacked the 87,768-ton tanker Neptune Subaru, registered in Singapore, and the 284,494-ton Norwegian tanker Berge Lord. Both were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway linking the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea.

Iranian gunboats had not attacked a foreign ship in the gulf since Feb. 11, and this had suggested to some observers that Iran was trying to minimize the war in the hope of delaying a vote in the United Nations on imposing an arms embargo against Tehran.

Iraqi warplanes were also active in the gulf. A military spokesman in Baghdad reported attacks on two Iranian ships.

One Attack Confirmed

Lloyd’s Shipping Intelligence unit said in London that it could confirm only one Iraqi attack. It said the 80,137-ton Cypriot tanker Kyrenicos was hit by fire from Iraqi warplanes early Friday near the Iranian port of Bushehr.

Lloyd’s reported “minor injuries” among the crew of the ship, which was chartered by Iran’s oil company. At the time of the attack, it was carrying a full load of oil from Iran’s Kharg Island terminal in the northern gulf.

In the so-called war of the cities, in which both sides have been attacking civilian areas since Feb, 27, Iran claimed to have fired 30 ground-to-ground missiles at Iraqi targets. Iraq said it fired seven missiles at Tehran.

The Iranians reported that a child was killed in Tehran and that several other persons were injured in the latest missile attacks. Several other people were killed when Iraqi warplanes attacked five Iranian towns, including Shiraz and Dezful.

3 Towns Attacked

Iraq said Iranian warplanes attacked three Iraqi towns, including the northern towns of Mosul and Irbil.

It was not clear whether the Iranian air attacks were connected with a new offensive the Iranians have been pressing against border towns in the northeast Iraqi region known as Kurdistan.

An Iranian military communique said that Iranian forces had killed 9,200 Iraqi soldiers and taken 4,000 Iraqi prisoners in fighting east of the provincial capital of Sulaymaniyah.

The Iranians said they have retaken the town of Nowsud, which had been held by the Iraqis since the start of the gulf war in 1980, and captured two towns in the area, Tovaila and Boyara.

Denies Combat Reports

The Iraqi government denies that there has been any fighting in the area. It said Iraqi forces pulled out of the region after intensive Iranian shelling earlier in the week.

Tehran Radio said thousands of Iraqi Kurds from border villages are being airlifted out of the region after Iraq used chemical weapons against the towns.

Iranian forces are fighting side by side in the area with Kurdish rebels opposed to Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein. The rebels are seeking autonomy from Baghdad. Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields, which are considered to be among the world’s richest, are situated in the area.