Heavy Toll Feared in Collapse of Baghdad Building Hit in Iran War

A heavy casualty toll was feared Thursday in the collapse of an eight-story office building damaged three years ago by an Iranian missile in central Baghdad. Scores of people were believed trapped, many of them passersby.

First reports of the accident two days ago were published Thursday by the government newspaper Thawra, which gave no casualty figure. It referred to an unspecified number of deaths as “murder” and demanded that those responsible be brought to justice.

The building was cracked by a rocket attack in the gulf “war of the cities” when Baghdad and Tehran fired missiles at civilian targets.

The area was sealed off as rescuers helped by earth-moving equipment searched for many victims believed trapped in the debris, witnesses said. They said that scores of Egyptian workers with several Iraqi engineers and supervisors were repairing pavements outside the building when the structure containing commercial offices crumbled.

It was the second such accident in Baghdad this year. A previous building collapse killed one person.