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Blasts Rock Baghdad
After Week Of War

By Khaled Oweis
3-26-3

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Waves of explosions rocked Baghdad overnight on Thursday as the Iraqi capital marked a grim week since the start of a U.S.-led war aimed at ousting President Saddam Hussein.
 
More than 30 blasts could be heard around the city in at least four rounds through the night, keeping sleep-deprived residents on edge especially after up to 15 Iraqis were killed in a residential district on Wednesday.
 
Anti-aircraft fire could be heard during the latest 10 blasts, shortly before 4 a.m. (8 p.m. EST Wednesday) and almost exactly a week since U.S.-led forces began the war on March 20 with a dawn raid at 5:33 a.m. (9:33 p.m. EST Wednesday).
 
The sky cleared during the night after sandstorms in recent days.
 
Some of the overnight explosions were near the center of the capital, others around the fringes of a sprawling city that is normally home to five million people.
 
Many have left to escape the blitz of bombs and cruise missiles with fears of an imminent battle for the city between elite Iraqi troops loyal to Saddam and U.S.-led forces advancing from the south and already less than 100 miles away.
 
Up to 15 Iraqis were killed in a Baghdad street on Wednesday in what residents said was a U.S. missile strike. It was the highest civilian death toll in any explosion in the city since the war began.
 
The United States denied that it had intentionally targeted the Shaab residential district in the capital, but the Pentagon left open the possibility that a missile or bomb had gone astray.
 
Other strikes in the past week have battered Saddam's palaces and government and military buildings. Washington and London accuse Saddam of hiding weapons of mass destruction, a charge he denies.
 
The first strikes on Baghdad a week ago hit Saddam's home in a targeted bid to kill the Iraqi leader. But Saddam has since appeared several times on television and ministers say he is still firmly in command.
 
As part of its defenses, Baghdad lit giant fires in oil-filled trenches on Saturday, casting a thick black pall over the city meant as a smokescreen to protect against the strikes.
 
But modern weapons are usually guided by satellite and so are unaffected by the smoke.
 
At night, Baghdad residents are staying at home or in bomb shelters, emerging by day to buy food and to check on relatives and friends.


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