Three decades of iron rule by Saddam Hussein appeared to be collapsing in Baghdad today as US troops mopping up fading resistance were met by jubilant Iraqis and looting broke out unhindered.
US troops holding positions in the western half of Baghdad today began an assault on Iraqi units guarding a crossing to the east.
Iraq said today that yesterday’s raids on Baghdad, including an apparent stray missile strike on a crowded market, had killed 36 Iraqi civilians.
Iraqi state television was back on air this morning despite a heavy dawn bombing raid that targeted the country’s national station.
As the US and its allies began air strikes on Iraq early on Thursday morning, there was widespread reaction from all quarters of the country, with many South Africans condemning the war, urging SA to stay neutral, and to focus on providing humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq.
Israeli online publication Ha’aretz.com reports that advisers to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have conceded that Sharon received ,5-million from a South African businessman, but denied any connection to criminal activity.
Ariel Sharon’s secret SA benefactor
No image available
/ 4 December 2002
In simultaneous attacks on Israeli tourists in Kenya on Thursday, three suicide bombers drove an explosive packed car into an Israeli-owned hotel killing eight people, and an Israeli charter jet narrowly avoided being hit by surface-to-air missiles.
No image available
/ 28 October 2002
Chechen gunmen shot and killed one of the hundreds of hostages being held at a Moscow theatre, Russian news media reported. A female hostage held by Chechen militants in a Moscow theatre was executed by her captors. A TV report showed a stretcher with a body being taken out.
Two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up outside an all-night grocery kiosk in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night, killing three bystanders in what police said was a ”multiple terror attack”.
European and Asian shares fell sharply in early trading on Thursday after Wall Street slumped to levels not seen since 1997 amid renewed concern about United States accounting methods.