Iraqis Pour Out of Baghdad in Civil Defense Exercise

Air raid sirens blared and about 1 million Iraqis carrying blankets and food streamed out of Baghdad early today in an evacuation drill to test the nation’s readiness for war.

During the drill many Iraqis stayed home, residents said. Participants ran on foot to civil defense centers or sped out of town in cars. Hundreds of buses waiting at centers took Iraqis to shelters north, east and south of Baghdad.

Roads leading out of the capital were jammed with thousands of cars, trucks, buses and even carriages pulled by tractors. The drill began at 7 a.m. and ended five hours later.

Iraq has been preparing for war since the U.N. Security Council authorized force to remove Iraq from Kuwait if it does not leave the emirate by Jan. 15. Iraqi media carry instructions for building bomb shelters and courses in civil defense and first-aid.

U.S. officials have suggested that Iraq’s cities could be bombed heavily in the event of war.

The evacuation drill today was conducted for the half of Baghdad that lies on the east bank of the Tigris River, but only about 1 million of the 2 million residents participated, said residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A second exercise Saturday will cover west Baghdad.

Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city with a million people, was evacuated in a similar exercise Thursday.

Also today, Egypt’s Middle East News Agency reported that Iraq is trying to buy a large number of gas masks in Europe.

MENA quoted an official newspaper in Abu Dhabi as saying Iraq had ordered gas masks from companies in Germany, Belgium, and Britain in recent weeks. It said the firms have not filled the orders.