How US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter in the first Gulf War
An Iraqi mother recalls the death of her four children when US bombs hit the Amiriya air raid shelter in Baghdad in Feburary 1991.
More than 400 civilians were killed when two US precision bombs hit the Amiriya air raid shelter in western Baghdad on the morning of 13 February 1991. The Americans claimed that the building had served as a command and control centre for Saddam Hussein's forces. It was the largest single case of civilian casualities that ocurred during Operation Desert Storm, the US-led campaign to force Iraq to withdraw from neighbouring Kuwait. Mike Lanchin has been hearing from one Iraqi woman whose four children were inside the air raid shelter the day it was bombed.
Photo: Inside the Amiriya air-raid shelter following the US bombing (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Broadcasts
- Fri 12 Feb 2021 08:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Fri 12 Feb 2021 12:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Fri 12 Feb 2021 18:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Fri 12 Feb 2021 23:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sat 13 Feb 2021 03:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Australasia
Podcast
-
Witness History
History as told by the people who were there