U.S. Halts Tomahawks Over Saudi Arabia

29/03/2003| IslamWeb

The United States halted Tomahawk cruise missile launches over parts of Saudi Arabia after the kingdom complained some of the weapons fired from American ships had landed in the vast desert country, the Central Command said Saturday.The problems apparently involved missiles fired from ships in the Mediterranean and Red seas, said Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart. He said the United States was trying to fix the problem and would "go back with the Saudis and work to resume those (launches) when it's appropriate."

He said the military hoped to be able to resume launches across Saudi Arabia that would not endanger populated areas but gave no estimate of when.

"We use other routes, or we use other systems," Renuart said.

Renuart said it was too early to confirm details of a resistance attack north of Najaf in which, according to an U.S. officer at the scene, five American invasions troops were killed when a car bomb exploded.

He said that kind of attack was "a symbol of an organization that's starting to get a little bit desperate."

The attack occurred at a U.S. checkpoint on the highway north of Najaf.

Capt. Andrew Wallace said the victims were part of the Army's 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.

A taxi stopped close to the checkpoint, and the driver waved for help. Five invasion soldiers approached the car, and it exploded, Wallace told Associated Press Television News.

The major general confirmed reports that U.S. forces had found the bodies of some troops in shallow graves near Nasiriyah, where a fierce battle has raged for days.

He said American forensic investigators were going to the grave sites. Renuart said he could not say how many bodies had been found.

The Army's 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed by Iraqi soldiers in the area last Sunday. At least two 507th soldiers were killed, and the Defense Department said eight more were missing and five were prisoners of war.

"We will also approach it from an aspect to ensure there were no war crimes committed in their deaths," Renuart said.

He said 200 Baath Party members had been killed in a coalition airstrike Friday night northeast of the besieged city of Basra.

He said it was one of nine strikes against Baath Party headquarters in Iraq .

"Each time we make one of these attacks we continue to degrade the regime," he said after the Central Command showed video tape of the strike which obliterated a big building in which it said the party members were meeting.

British forces have encircled Basra, the second largest Iraqi city, for days now after encountering unexpectedly stiff resistance on the drive toward Baghdad.

More than a dozen Iraqi tanks have been destroyed in the Basra fighting. The United States and Britain say Iraqi paramilitary Fedayeen fighters were forcing Iraqi men to fight by threatening to kill them or harm their families.

Renuart said U.S. forces have taken more than 3,500 Iraqis prisoners who were being taken to a central location, where the Red Cross will be given access to them.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Guided Missile Destroyer USS Cape St. George launches a Tomahawk cruise missile early Friday March 28, 2003, as she sails in the Mediterranean Sea to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)