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Missile kills five syria Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.edinburghnews.com/index.cfm?id=355362003 http://www.edinburghnews.com/index.cfm?id=355362003 Missile kills five Syrians on bus Mon 24 Mar 2003 A US plane has fired a missile at a bus carrying 37 Syrians killing five and wounding at least ten. The air-to-surface missile struck the bus as it was travelling near the Iraqi border. A Syrian news agency said the incident occurred on Sunday morning in Iraq’s al-Rutbeh area, some 100 miles from the Syrian border. "A US warplane fired a missile at 10am local time yesterday on a civilian bus carrying Syrian nationals in al-Rutbeh, killing five and wounding at least ten," the agency said. The bodies of the five dead were taken to a Damascus hospital in coffins with Iraqi death certificates, the hospital director, Dr. Abdullah al-Asali, said. "The deaths were caused by an explosion. We saw shrapnel wounds and distortions due to an explosion," he said. "They were all young, apparently labourers returning home after the war started," Ten wounded Syrians were treated at a medical centre at the al-Tanf border post and two at the Damascus hospital. All were released apart from a man with a leg injury, who was transferred to a hospital in his home town of Hamma, medical sources said. Syrian analyst Imad Shueibi said he did not expect Syria to respond militarily and accused Washington of trying to halt the movement of people between Syria and Iraq. "It is an attempt to cut the open road between Syria and Iraq," Shueibi said. "The intention is to provoke us and we will not be (provoked)." Syria, the only Arab member of the United Nations Security Council, has been a staunch opponent of the US-led war on Iraq, a fellow Arab state. Oil-rich Iraq has attracted labourers from Arab and Asian countries for years, despite the crippling economic sanctions imposed on Baghdad for its 1991 occupation of Kuwait. A spokeswoman for the US Central Command said Allied forces do not target civilians, and that their targeting is done very carefully, using precision-guided missiles to select military targets. The bus tragedy is the third US missile misfire incident within 24 hours. Two Tomahawk missiles also landed in Turkey yesterday and exploded harmlessly.

2 missiles hit turkey 2 missiles malfunction turkey { March 25 2003 } Another rocket hits iran kills child { April 9 2003 } Errors are seen in attacks on iraqi leaders { June 13 2004 } Kurds and sf bombed by us Missile hits iran { March 22 2003 } Missile kills five syria Missiles strayed turkey saudi { March 30 2003 } Russia accuses us firing convoy { April 7 2003 } Scene from hell bodies all around Us kuridsh convoy hit by mistake { April 7 2003 } Files Listed: 11

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