CENTRALCOMMAND: A spokesman for US Central Command has claimed that the deaths of at least 15 people in a Baghdad marketplace this week could have been caused by an Iraqi missile, which might have been fired deliberately. He said US missiles were launched on Baghdad at the time but claimed they were "in a different area", writes Deaglán de Bréadún in Doha
The comments of Brig Gen Vincent Brooks yesterday differed significantly from the statement issued by US Central Command the previous night headed: "Coalition forces strike missile-launchers in Baghdad; civilian damage possible".
This statement said there was a US air-strike on Iraqi munitions, which it alleged were stored in a "civilian residential area", most of them "less than 300 feet from homes", and it made no claim that the attack was in a different part of the city. Nor did it suggest the possibility of an Iraqi missile attack.
The latest US position was outlined by Brig Gen Brooks at a news conference at Camp As Sayliyah, near the capital of Qatar. He said the Iraqis were using old missiles and firing them without the use of radar in order to avoid detection by coalition aircraft.
"We've seen uncontrolled surface-to-air missile fire," he said. "I think it's entirely possible that this may in fact have been an Iraqi missile that went up and came down, or given the behaviour of the regime lately, it may have been a deliberate attack."
He said US aircraft were attacking Baghdad at the time of the incident on Wednesday, but the targets were in a different area of the Iraqi capital. But he added: "We won't have a final answer until we're in Baghdad ourselves."
Brig Gen Brooks said a US investigation had determined that all US missiles launched during the period had hit their intended targets. He said: "The rest of the story we just don't know. We may never know."
He told reporters: "We did have an air mission that attacked some targets, not in that area but in a different area, and during that period of time they engaged surface-to-air missile fire."
The officer said there was "a hazard in turning on a radar against our aircraft", and it was possible that an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile had been fired blind and gone astray, hitting the residential area.
He said civilian injuries appeared to be concentrated in Shia populations, and there might be "a pattern" of the Iraqi regime targeting that group (the Iraqi regime is mainly Sunni Muslim).
Photographs displayed at the briefing included a damaged missile factory in Baghdad and a television satellite facility that was put off the air. He said the facility had been used to issue command-and-control orders, and its destruction was part of coalition efforts to cut the regime's lines of communication.
He said President Saddam Hussein was losing his grip on Iraq. "The cumulative effect we're seeing is degraded control. We're seeing locally controlled military and paramilitary actions, frequent survival moves by regime leaders and uncontrolled firing of air defence missiles."
He agreed with the British claim, made earlier, that Iraqi paramilitary forces were threatening regular troops with execution or threatening to kill their families if they did not fight.
Some US marines were wounded during a 90-minute attack in Nassiriya, he said. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force "soundly defeated" the attack which, he said, was mounted by irregular forces using armoured personnel carriers, rocket-launchers and anti-aircraft artillery systems.
US Central Command was investigating "embedded" media reports that "friendly fire" had injured more than 30 US marines. Iraqi forces in the previous 24 hours had displayed "more and more desperation", Brig Gen Brooks said. "Our plan is working."
Coalition forces had taken control of approximately 600 oil wellheads, of which a half-dozen were still burning, after being sabotaged by retreating Iraqis,according to Brig Gen Brooks.
Earlier, the British commander, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, criticised the Arabic-language satellite network Al Jazeera for screening "shocking close-up pictures" of UK personnel killed in the conflict.
"The decision by Al Jazeera to broadcast such material is deplorable, and we call upon them to desist from future broadcasts of such a nature. All media outlets must be wary that they do not unwittingly become tools for Iraqi propaganda," he said.