207 Iraqi civilians, most of them women and children, were wounded in Baghdad bombing blitz

By Aws al-Sharqy, IOL Iraq Correspondent

BAGHDAD, March 22 (IslamOnlin.net) – The Iraqi people received the Anglo-American barbaric bombardment of the capital Baghdad late Friday, March 21, by shouting Allah Akbar (Allah is Greater), signalling their staunch steadfastness in the face of the American colonialism.

Baghdad came under one of the fiercest airstrike launched by the U.S. and British warplanes, with the occupation forces using all kinds of weapons of mass destruction and their military juggernaut from F-117 stealth fighters, B-2 stealth bombers to B-52 bombers.

Batches of armed volunteers and al-Quds Army took up their defense positions across the main streets in Baghdad to deter the aggressors.

IslamOnline.net succeeded in having a hands-on experience by getting closer to the nearest anti-aircraft defense position and taking photos.

The Iraqi soldiers listened to noble verses of the Glorious Qur’an from their recorders while they were defending Baghdad.

"I have no fears at all…I am sure that victory will be ours and I pray that Allah would help us stave off evil," Aymen al-Sheikhli, an Iraqi sergeant, told IslamOnline.net.

"I hope I can shoot down one warplane of the crows of evil," he wished.

The bursts lit up the sky of Baghdad and heavy plumes of smoke clouded over the city.

The American and British occupation forces claimed they targeted some strategic positions, however, eyewitnesses told IslamOline.net that missiles were fired at residential areas to which ambulances rushed to rescue the injured.

Wounded Iraqi woman holding her injured child in hospital

Speaking at a press conference Saturday, March 22, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said the bombing blitz wounded 207 civilians, most of them women and children.

The casualties, who were being cared for in five different hospitals around the capital, were "hit in their homes", Sahhaf told reporters.

"I invite you to visit them and ask them how and where they were hurt," he said, maintaining Iraq's rejection of the coalition's insistence it is striking only the regime and the military.

In the meantime, the Iraqi television went on airing patriotic songs to beef up the enthusiasm and national zeal of the Iraqi people to stand up to the occupation forces.

For his part, Iraqi Defense Minister Let. Gen. Sultan Hashim Ahmad held a press conference late Friday in which he mocked at the U.S. underestimation of their losses in the war.

The Iraqi minister denied that the U.S. occupation troops advanced into the Iraqi territories or occupied the strategic city of Um al-Kasr.