Iraqi Claims Capture of U.S. Pilots

An Iraqi official claimed today that American pilots had been captured, according to a report by CNN from Baghdad.

CNN’s Peter Arnett said Iraq’s minister of information told reporters that they could meet with captured American pilots. Arnett offered no other details in his report, which he said was being made under Iraqi censorship.

Arnett said the Iraqis also claimed to have shot down seven planes today, five on the front in Kuwait and two over Iraq. He said the Iraqi communique claimed air defenses had knocked down 72 planes since the start of the war.

The allied nations attacking Iraq have confirmed losing seven planes--three American, two British, one Italian and one Kuwaiti.

Arnett said Baghdad was under an air raid alert as he delivered his report, which came about 6:30 a.m. PST (5:30 p.m. Baghdad time). He said that bombing attacks were made in the suburbs of the capital earlier in the day and that raids Thursday night shook the hotel where reporters are staying.

In a separate interview with CNN, British Defense Secretary Tom King said in London that the crews of the two British planes were missing. “Those are the first possible casualties that we’ve had, but we don’t have any firm information on them at this time,” he said.

On Thursday, a BBC reporter in Saudi Arabia had said that the two-man crew of one of the planes, a Tornado GR-1, bailed out over the desert behind Iraqi lines and that the British are mounting a rescue operation.

British reporters said the pilot and navigator abandoned the first Tornado after sending a radio message saying the engine was on fire.

There also were two men on the second plane.

Allied forces also were searching today for two Italian air force officers whose Tornado disappeared during Italy’s first sortie in the war.