Iraq Says Rail Station, Homes Targeted in Allied Airstrikes

A second straight day of allied airstrikes over southern Iraq damaged a train station and several homes and injured at least three people, a senior Iraqi military officer said Sunday. The U.S. military said the aircraft targeted Iraqi air defense sites.

British and U.S. warplanes attacked targets Saturday in Samawa, 170 miles south of Baghdad, a day after airstrikes in the same city that Iraq said killed two people and injured 19 others.

Lt. General Shaheen Yassin Ahmad, commander of the Iraqi Air Defense, told reporters that the allied planes are targeting homes and civilian structures “from the Saudi and Kuwaiti skies.”

“This train station is used to serve the people,” Ahmad said. “Will they still claim they are protecting Iraqis when they are killing them on a daily basis?”

Friday’s airstrikes hit a warehouse used to store food allowed under the U.N. oil-for-food deal as well as several homes, Iraqi officials said.

The attacks ended a six-week lull in airstrikes, which used to take place almost daily. The last raids that Iraq said caused casualties were June 29, when Baghdad said U.S. and British warplanes killed one civilian and injured another.

The U.S. Central Command confirmed the Friday night strikes, saying allied aircraft targeted two Iraqi air defense sites after antiaircraft artillery fired on planes patrolling the zone. Its statement did not mention Iraq’s claim of two dead but said allied airstrikes “do not target civilian populations or infrastructure” and seek to avoid civilian casualties.

A U.S. Central Command statement on the Saturday strikes said coalition aircraft hit two antiaircraft artillery sites in response to fire on the patrol planes. It did not mention casualties and said damage was being assessed.