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Witness History: How US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter in the first Gulf War

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When the US bombed the Amiriya shelter

12/02/2021 GMT

How US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter in the first Gulf War

BBC World Service - Witness History, How US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter in the first Gulf War

More than 400 civilians died when US bombs hit the Amiriya air raid shelter in Baghdad

An Iraqi mother recalls the death of her four children when US bombs hit the Amiriya air raid shelter in Baghdad in Feburary 1991.

More than 400 civilians were killed when two US precision bombs hit the Amiriya air raid shelter in western Baghdad on the morning of 13 February 1991. The Americans claimed that the building had served as a command and control centre for Saddam Hussein's forces. It was the largest single case of civilian casualities that ocurred during Operation Desert Storm, the US-led campaign to force Iraq to withdraw from neighbouring Kuwait. Mike Lanchin has been hearing from one Iraqi woman whose four children were inside the air raid shelter the day it was bombed. 

Photo: Inside the  Amiriya air-raid shelter following the US bombing (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)

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How US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter in the first Gulf War

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