Two
missiles were fired by a warplane, sending a plume of black smoke
rising into the afternoon sky, according to Agence-France Presse
(AFP).
The
compound has been a constant target of the U.S.-led raids, which also
blasted the information ministry and communication networks Monday,
pulling the plug on domestic television for several hours.
One
missile had already been dropped over the compound on the banks of the
Tigris River just after midnight Monday.
Countrymen
in Janabiyah village on the southeastern edge of Baghdad told an AFP
journalist that two missiles fired by coalition warplanes caught five
sleeping families on a farm.
Iraqi
villagers reported 20 dead, including 11 children, after the incident
a missile landed on a farm outside the capital.
Bloodied
school books and children's shoes strewn amidst animal carcasses bore
witness to the carnage, as the civilian toll of the campaign continued
to mount.
Hospital
sources said coalition bombing killed six Iraqis and wounded dozens of
others in a Baghdad residential neighborhood on Monday.
Kamal
Askar, director of the Al-Kindi hospital, said the blasts hit the
Al-Amin neighborhood in east Baghdad, reported AFP.
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A
“liberated” Iraqi child
|
It
was the second successful missile strike on the information ministry
after the high-rise building, bearing new scars on its facade, was
damaged Saturday.
The
state television compound lies near the information ministry in
central Baghdad, and broadcasts were interrupted for about six hours.
Invasion
warplanes also struck the northern city of Mosul at dawn Monday,
showing footage of columns of smoke rising from the outskirts, the
Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera said.
Mosul,
450 kilometers (280 miles) north of Baghdad, has been the target of
daily air strikes since March 21, as Britain and the United States
attempt to soften up its defenses ahead of the long-awaited opening of
a second front in the north.
Big
explosions, meanwhile, boomed out from the edge of the capital as they
have daily since the war began, but Baghdadis were out on the streets
again and at work trying to maintain a semblance of normal life.
U.S.
Central Command said a Tomahawk cruise missile was launched at the
building near the Tigris River at about 2:00 am (2300 GMT Sunday) in a
bid "to reduce the Hussein regime's command and control
capabilities".
U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers warned
that a long campaign for Baghdad should be expected.
Myers,
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured: "We have the
power to be patient in this. We are not going to hurry.
"We
will be patient and continue to draw the noose tighter and
tighter" around the Saddam's regime in Baghdad.
The
general said about 50 percent of U.S. air attacks Saturday had been
directed at Revolutionary Guard positions around Baghdad.
The
United States announced Sunday troops were within 95 kilometers (60
miles) of Baghdad, but Iraq vowed to meet the invaders with suicide
attacks in line with punishing guerrilla tactics that have impeded the
coalition's push.
Arab
Volunteers
Iraqi
Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said U.S.-led forces were colonialists
aiming to "partition" the country and warned: "Withdraw
now rather than tomorrow.
"More
than 5,000 foreign Arab volunteers are in Iraq to defend the honor of
the Arabs and Muslims," he told reporters, reiterating statements
from Iraqi officials that they came from "all Arab countries,
without exception."
Iraqis
Denied Freedom of Movement
Following
a martyrdom operation that killed four U.S. soldiers Saturday, U.S.
forces deny Iraqi people from traveling in the western desert and in
some cases preventing them from entering the country and turning them
back.
Brigadier
General Vincent Brooks characterized Monday the operation as
"area denial" and said it was mainly aimed at preventing
people from straying into a combat zone.
"What
is going on in the western desert, where routes lead into Iraq, is
something that can be characterized as area denial," he told a
press conference at U.S. Central Command forward headquarters here.
"We
are eliminating freedom of action and freedom of movement from anyone
who passes through there.
"We
are denying freedom of movement throughout the western desert and have
been very effective at it."
On
Sunday, the Jordan Times and other media reported travelers
fleeing Baghdad being stopped and searched by U.S. and Australian
troops on the desert highway to Jordan.
