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Witness History: When Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor

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When Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor

07/06/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, When Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor

Israeli warplanes launched a surprise attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor in June 1981

There was international condemnation when Israel launched a surprise attack on the French-built Osirak nuclear reactor located outside Baghdad on 7 June 1981.

On 7 June 1981 Israeli fighter jets launched a surprise attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor located outside Baghdad, killing 11 people. The French-built reactor was still under construction and there was no leakage of nuclear material, but the bombing was widely condemned internationally. Israel argued that it had effectively slowed down Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme by ten years, while the Iraqis insisted that the reactor was being built for purely scientific research. Mike Lanchin has been speaking to Dr Fadhil Muslim al Janabi, a former consultant for Iraq's nuclear agency and one of the first people to see the damaged reactor site.

Producer in Baghdad: Mona Mahmoud

Picture: The Tammuz light-water nuclear materials testing reactor under construction in Al-Tuwaitha, just outside of Baghdad, 1979. (Getty Images)

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