Baghdad says 21 killed in allied air strikes

UNITED STATES, British and French aircraft yesterday bombed air defence installations in both the north and south of Iraq in a further escalation of hostilities. Baghdad said 21 people were killed in the attacks.

The latest mission came barely 12 hours after the Iraqi capital was shaken by a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles fired at an industrial plant 13 miles from its centre.

US officials said that damage to the Rashid hotel in central Baghdad, a favourite with foreign journalists, was caused accidentally by an American cruise missile that fell off course after being shot down by Iraqi defences.

Yesterday's renewed action bore out US warnings that the strikes would continue until Iraq bowed to United Nations ceasefire resolutions and stopped challenging the two no-fly zones, imposed by the allies to guard against persecution of Kurds and Shia Muslims. 'These attacks could proceed without further warning,' the Pentagon reiterated.

The biggest raid yesterday was concentrated in the south, where 40 allied jets, including British Tornados, attempted to destroy Iraqi anti-aircraft defence facilities missed during a similar raid last Wednesday. Pentagon officials said bombs were dropped on a command co-ordination centre near Samawah inside the zone and on mobile missile batteries.

Last week, pilots were hampered by darkness and bad weather. Yesterday conditions were good and the mission was in daylight. The RAF said the aircraft once again used 1,000lb laser-guided bombs which homed in on laser beams from the Tiald (Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator) pods.

No losses were reported among allied aircraft, flown from land-bases in Saudi Arabia. The commander of the RAF Tornado detachment in the Gulf last night revealed his aircraft had 'severely damaged or totally destroyed' their target. The White House said: 'This action has been undertaken in response to Iraqi moves to reconstitute its surface-to-air missiles sytems in the region.'

In the northern zone, meanwhile, US F-4G 'Wild Weasels' launched Harm missiles against Iraqi radars 10 miles south-west of Mosul. A US F-15 fighter apparently shot down an Iraqi MiG- 25 fighter on Monday over northern Iraq, Pentagon officials said - the third Iraqi jet shot down since 27 December.

Tension is high and air raid sirens were set off accidentally in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and in Kuwait City, apparently after incorrect reports of inflying Scud missiles from Iraq. Anti-aircraft tracer fire was also seen over Baghdad yesterday evening, when no allied action was under way.

With the inaugural festivities in Washington increasingly overshadowed by events in the Gulf, President-elect Bill Clinton said policy towards Iraq would remain unchanged after his swearing in at noon tomorrow.

Questions are likely to linger over the missile hitting the Rashid hotel, where senior Iraqi officials were said to have frequently taken shelter during the Gulf war.

It would seem unlikely that the US would choose it as a target given the number of journalists staying there. Two Iraqi woman died after the hotel's lobby was all but destroyed.

Returning to Washington from Camp David, President George Bush fended off questions about strains in the coalition over any further military action.

Iraq yesterday towed away six police huts from the demilitarised zone on the southern side of the Iraq-Kuwait border. They were ordered to move them by last

Friday.

(Map omitted)