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Saddam bombs hit homes Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/21/wbomb21.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/04/21/ixnewstop.html http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/21/wbomb21.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/04/21/ixnewstop.html Smart bombs aimed at Saddam killed families By David Blair in Baghdad (Filed: 21/04/2003) An air strike which American spokesmen were confident had killed Saddam Hussein in a Baghdad restaurant missed its target and hit nearby homes, killing at least eight people. Three children were among the dead when four satellite-guided bombs were dropped by a B1 Lancer. A jagged crater 25ft deep, strewn with debris and smelling of rotting flesh, is all that remains of the two homes in the suburb of Mansur. About 20 yards from the crater, the al-Sa'ah restaurant was open for lunch yesterday. Its windows had been blown out and its customers had to eat outside, but the building appeared to have suffered no serious structural damage. American intelligence said at the time of the bombing on April 8 that Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, had been meeting key aides in the restaurant. But far from being an elite restaurant patronised by the old regime, al-Sa'ah is a cheap establishment selling chicken lunches for about £1. The B1 aircraft dropped two GBU31 bunker-buster bombs shortly after 3pm. After a three-second interval, another two 2,000lb bombs were dropped. American officials claimed that the restaurant had been "pulverised" and that, if Saddam had been inside at the time, he would not have escaped. In fact, all four bombs missed. A black banner draped on the rubble behind the restaurant, the wreckage of the destroyed homes, mourns the deaths of four members of one family. "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," it reads. "Mr Abid Abdul Masih Sami asks for your condolences after his loved ones were killed in the American bombing." The banner, which carries two white crosses, names the dead as Sanaa, 30, his wife, and their daughters Lana, Miriam and Lava, all under the age of 10. Mr Sami worked as a security guard at the destroyed house. Its owners had left Baghdad before the strike. His family lived in a small, adjacent outhouse. Mr Sami was out when the bombs fell. He returned to find the smoking crater where his home had stood. A similar banner announced the deaths of four members of another family, who lived in the second destroyed home. Salma Amin, 50, was killed with her sons, Mohammed, 27, Saif, 24, and her daughter, Shams, 20. Neighbours said that Mohammed was engaged and that his fiancee had visited the house less than an hour before it was destroyed. At least four other homes clustered around the lip of the crater suffered severe damage. The explosion uprooted a palm tree and hurled it through the wall of a neighbouring house. Raad Jiburi, 52, lived a stone's throw from the crater. He was resting in his bedroom when the attack was launched. "I heard the sound of an aircraft but it was far away," he said. "Then I heard the bombs falling. The noise was like a machine working. It became louder and louder and then the explosion hit us." The blast from the first detonation hurled Mr Jiburi off his bed and across the room. Three seconds later the second explosion threw him into the corridor. "I could not see anything," he said. "Everything was black with dust. I could not hear anything. I went looking for my family, for my children." Every window in Mr Jiburi's home has been shattered and deep cracks criss-cross the walls. He managed to flee the house with his wife Nawal, 42, their sons Haider, 22, and Ramala, nine, and their daughter Tamara, 26. His one-year-old nephew, Abdullah, was also in the house at the time. All escaped with minor injuries caused by flying glass. Mr Jiburi said: "The idea that Saddam Hussein or his sons were ever here was a false idea. We never saw any of them here." © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003. Terms & Conditions of reading. Commercial information. Privacy Policy.

1700 iraqi civilian deaths { May 18 2003 } 36 dead civilians bahgdad bombing { March 27 2003 } 4000 dead civilians one week { March 27 2003 } 50 die market blast Accuses us targeting civilians Baghdad blasts kill 17 civilians { March 27 2003 } Baghdad hospital bombed { April 2 2003 } Baghdad market world cries { March 29 2003 } Baghdad marketplace hit Bathed in blood { April 6 2003 } Bloody checkpoint marines weeping { April 6 2003 } Bombed maternity hospital Boy without arms [jpg] Boy without arms2 [jpg] Chick got in the way { March 29 2003 } Children die checkpoint { April 1 2003 } Cluster bombs liberate children Concern grows for iraqi civilians { April 6 2003 } Counting iraqis dead { March 25 2003 } Cruise missile residential area { March 26 2003 } Denies targeting baghdad marketplace Errant missile hits iran { March 22 2003 } Excessive force cluster bombs { April 1 2003 } Explosions dismemberd iraqis { April 3 2003 } Face of war [jpg] Forces kill 7 woman children High civilian death toll { May 22 2003 } Hilla hospital cluster bombs { April 3 2003 } Hit marketplace 3 26 03 [jpg] Hospitals overwhelmed Humanitarian effort disaster { April 7 2003 } Hundreds reported dead Iran says building hit { March 22 2003 } Iraq shows casualties hospital { April 3 2003 } Iraqi civilian deaths 10 000 Iraqi wounded too high to count Marketplace death us missile { April 2 2003 } Mirror appeal boy without arms Missile strikes baghdad market friday Missile strikes house family { March 25 2003 } Nasiriya bridge slaughter { March 31 2003 } Outrage over damage homes cluster bombs Proof marketplace us missile Rutba hospital bombed { March 31 2003 } Saddam bombs hit homes Slaughter bridge death Target baghdad marketplace Tours hospitals wounded Vegetable market bombed Women children killed highway9 { April 1 2003 } Files Listed: 50

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