PERSIAN GULF WAR Iraq claims 500 civilians dead in Allied attack DHAHKAN, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Allied warplanes, in a pinpoint bombing that sent shock waves far beyond Iraq, destroyed an underground structure in Baghdad on Wednesday, and officials said 500 civilians were killed. Iraq called it a bomb shelter, the United States a military com mand center. By nightfall, 14 hours after the pre-dawn attack, crews were still pulling charred bod ies. some of them children, from the rubble, an Associated Press correspondent reported from Baghdad. Distraught rela tives crowded the smoke-filled streets. But the U.S. command in Saudi Arabia, and later the White House, said the subterra nean concrete facility had been positively identified as an Iraqi military command-and-control center, and the right target was hit. "W'e don’t know why civil ians were at that location," said Marlin Fitzwater, Presi dent Bush's spokesman. Ameri can officials blamed Iraq's lead ership for the tragedy, saying it had put civilians "in harm’s way." The AP correspondent. Dilip Ganguly, inspected the ruins with other journalists and said he saw no obvious sign that it had a military use Coupled with continuing ci vilian deaths elsewhere, the Baghdad huinhmg was sure to inflame an international debate over the war's costs and tactics. A senior Iraqi official said earli er this week that "thousands" of civilians have been killed in the air war The deadly Baghdad air strike was among 2.800 sorties mounted by Operation Desert Storm on Wednesday in favor ably clear skies About one-third of the mis sions were directed at targets in southern Iraq and Iraqi-occu pied Kuwait, aimed at "soften ing up" the dug-in positions of Iraqi troops before the expected ground offensive by the U.S. led alliance. Before word flashed from Baghdad of Wednesday's dev astating attack. U.S. officers told reporters in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, that the Iraqi military had managed to main tain communications links de spite more than three weeks of nonstop bombing It was clear U.S. strategists were anxious to knock out more of these com mand-and-control networks. The night's raids on Bagh dad. described by residents as among the worst of the air war, began about 8 p.m. Tuesday and lasted 12 hours. Canguly $2.00 OFF Vans Shoes j 25% OFF Silver Rings I $1.00 OFF CDs and Tapes 24 Pk ISI Whip Cream Charges $9 99 Lazar's Bazar Skateboard Headquarters 57 W. Broadway. Downtown Mall 687 0139 c o u p o N 2T This Valentine’s Day, care enough to use the very best. Colored condoms available at the Student Health Center REMEMBER: Caring doesn’t end on Valentine’s Day Use condoms every day! ■OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPOOOOC sponsored by A • I • D • S EDUCATION ooooooooood reported Telecommunications centers in two Baghdad dis tricts were among the sites bombed. At about 4 a m . it was the turn of the 40 foot-deep under ground structure which U S officials acknowledge was built as a bomb shelter in a! Amerieh. a middle-class neigh borhood. Iraqi officials said 400 to 500 people had moved into the fa cility after the t>ombing began |an 17, and hundreds more joint'd them because this vvt't'k's ixtmhmg was particular ly intense At least two weapons U S spokesmen said they were two ixunhs from planes struc k the shelter, one slamming into the entrant e and cutting off the lone escape route with debris, the second piercing the ‘( foot tbit k roof and exploding inside the structure, the Iraqis said Kmergency teams and local residents who rushed to the silt? found an inferno Rescue ef forts proceeded slowly, but by mid morning more than 40 charred bodies were laid out on the ground. Ganguly reported By nightfall. Abdul Kazak Hassan al Janahv. a supervisor of the facility, said 2:t!> bodies had been recovered and at least .ilMI more were (relieved still trapped in the wreckage Just a Reminder Applications ior Till National Student Exchange Program ARI-: NOW AVAII.ABI.li IN ACADIiMIC ADVISING 164 Orixion Hai.i. They are due February 15, 1991 NO lJOt-R 'll IAN 5:CX) PM o Visit Acadkmic Advising or call Jennifkr or Joh at 346-3211 REGARDING ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE * crOM fiOOD atcUIRTS ■UggSSS^eoW* t?OCKZ“nOW