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US strikes Iraqi TV,
communications
26/03/2003 08:23 - (SA)
Baghdad / Washington - US and British forces used missiles and air strikes to hit Iraqi television, a key telecommunications site and Baghdad satellite communications early on Wednesday, US defence officials said.
The Al-Jazeera satellite channel reported that one of seven explosions rocked the centre of the city at about 5:00.
Large clouds of smoke were seen rising from the area around the ministry and the television buildings, it added, although it was unclear if they were hit because of a sandstorm hampering visibility.
"Not long before daybreak, the coalition struck Iraq's main television station, as well as a key telecommunications vault and Baghdad satellite communications, damaging the regime's command and control capability," said one US official.
Tomahawk land-delivered missiles and air delivered ordnance were used in what officials described as an important strike that damaged a "key" part of Iraq's overall command and control operations.
Battle damage assessment was continuing, said one official.
Reuters witnesses reported that about 40 large explosions struck the southern outskirts of the Iraqi capital and another hit an area housing the television centre.
Blank screen
On Wednesday morning, Iraq's satellite television was showing either a blank screen or sporadic still pictures which suggested technicians were struggling to bring it back.
There has been widespread speculation that the United States could use the war in Iraq to debut high-powered microwave weapons, a new class of weapons that use a burst of electromagnetic energy to disable or destroy the electronics that control everything from an enemy's radar to its laptops.
US defence officials said they had no information that a so-called "E-bomb" had been used in Wednesday's strike.
They said the raid was aimed at eliminating the system Iraqi President Saddam Hussein uses to communicate with the Iraqi people and troops.
The day before Iraqi television aired footage of five prisoners of war, as well as at least four dead US soldiers lying crumpled and blood-stained in a makeshift morgue.
The footage was believed to have been calculated to strike at the pride and prestige of US-led forces and show President Saddam Hussein was still firmly in control. Washington complained the broadcasts were in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
US defence officials noted that air strikes were used to knock Iraqi television off the air during the first Gulf War in 1991.
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