Two UK Helicopters Collide in Gulf, 7 Crew Missing; Saddam to Respect Rights of POWs; Dawn Strikes Rock Baghdad;

22/03/2003| IslamWeb

Two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters collided over international waters in the Gulf region and seven crewmembers are missing, Britain's Defense Ministry said on Saturday. "Two helicopters have collided in mid-air early on Saturday morning and seven crew are missing," a Ministry of Defense spokesman told Reuters. The spokesman said no other details were immediately available and the exact location of the crash was not known.

Eight British soldiers and four U.S. marines were killed in a helicopter crash in Kuwait on Friday.

Saddam to Respect Rights of POWs

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has issued a statement pledging to respect the rights of prisoners of war captured by his forces, Iraqi television said on Saturday.

"Iraq, out of respect for itself and its humanity...will respect the prisoners of war of the enemy whom we capture," Iraqi television said, reading a statement it said came from Saddam.

"We will respect their rights according to the Geneva Convention."

The state Iraqi News Agency (INA) said on Saturday that Saddam had offered to reward any Iraqi who shot down a U.S. or British aircraft, or killed or captured a pilot or soldier.

INA said an order by Saddam stipulated that any Iraqi fighter shooting down an enemy warplane would be paid 100 million dinars (around dlrs 33,000 on the black market) and 50 million for a downed helicopter.

Iraqis would get 50 million dinars for capturing a pilot or soldier and 25 million for killing one, INA said. The reward for shooting down a missile would be 10 million dinars.

Iraqi television has carried several statements it says were made by Saddam since U.S. and British forces launched their attack on Iraq on Thursday.

Dawn Strikes

Baghdad was hit by powerful air strikes at dawn, shortly after Iraqi anti-aircraft defenses fired into the sky, according to an AFP correspondent.

The loud bombardment took place around 5:30 am (0230 GMT) Saturday, although explosions were heard throughout the night from a distance, as the US-led war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein entered its third day. The targets of the air strikes were unclear.

According to the correspondent in Baghdad of the Qatari satellite network al-Jazeera, three missiles fell in or around the capital and at least one missile hit the city's outskirts about three hours earlier.

Baghdad was pounded by hundreds of missiles Friday, with the Republican Palace, a symbol of Saddam's 24-year iron grip on the country, engulfed in flames.

US and British forces meanwhile advanced in southern Iraq, approaching the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Museum & Guest House Targeted

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Saeed Al-Sahhaf, quoted by the Al-Jazeera Arab television channel, said a former royal residence turned museum, and a guest house, had also been destroyed.

He also said that 270 civilians were injured during Friday's raids. But ambulances wailed through the streets even as the ordnance fell.

Mr. Sahhaf also said the Iraqis have put stiff resistance to invading forces and that 5 enemy tanks were destroyed and that several others were killed and wounded.

Two US marines were the first combat deaths among the invaders. But a US Marine helicopter also crashed in Kuwait early Friday, killing eight British Royal Marines and the American crew of four.

Iraq Would Prevail, Says Iraqi Defense Minister

Rumsfeld's Iraqi counterpart, Sultan Hashim Ahmed, defiantly told a Baghdad press conference amid the bombing that Iraq would prevail.

"No force in the world will conquer us because we are defending our country, our principles and our religion," Ahmed said, his voice sporadically drowned out by violent explosions.

Iraq Accuses Annan of Wanting to Have Monopoly over Iraqi Oil Sales

At the United Nations in New York, Iraq's ambassador accused Secretary General Kofi Annan of wanting to run Iraq's oil sale program and distribute the proceeds at his discretion.

Mohamed al-Douri told reporters that a UN draft resolution introduced Thursday "calls for the forfeiting of the oil of the Iraqi state and implementing the colonial illusion of the removal of the state of Iraq."

The resolution, he charged, was aimed at "the transforming of Iraq and the region into colonies under the control of the world American and Zionist oil mafia."

France Would Oppose Granting UN Cover to a US-British Post War Administration of Iraq

But French President Jacques Chirac, one of the leaders of the opposition, said he would refuse to accept a US-British post-war administration of Iraq, saying the United Nations was the only body, which could be responsible for reconstruction.

"France will not accept a resolution tending to legitimize the military intervention and giving the American and English belligerents powers over the administration of Iraq," he said.

Mosul & Kirkuk Targeted

Al Jazeera television said there was a raid on Mosul in the north, and an AFP correspondent said there was also anti-aircraft fire around the key northern oil city of Kirkuk.

Until Friday there had been only limited raids, mainly aimed at Saddam, whose compound was the target of the first air strike before dawn on Thursday.

US television network ABC said Saddam may have been injured, quoting intelligence sources as saying witnesses saw him being carried away from the wreckage of his compound with an oxygen mask over his face.

PHOTO CAPTION

An aviation ordnance man pushes a load of 1,000-pound MK-83 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) bombs prior to loading them onto fighter jets aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, in the northern Gulf March 20, 2003. REUTERS/Paul Hanna - Mar 20 1:33 PM ET