Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/27/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / WAR TOLL (S)

NUMBER=2-301386

BYLINE=GREG LAMOTTE

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

INTRO: Iraq is blaming coalition forces for what it says are thousands of civilians wounded and hundreds killed in the first week of the war. V-O-A's Greg LaMotte reports from our Middle East bureau in Cairo.

TEXT: Iraq's minister of health says 350 Iraqi civilians have been killed and more than four-thousand injured since the war against Iraq began.

The health minister, Umid Midhat Mubarak, said 36 civilians have been killed in Baghdad since Wednesday. He said a very dramatic humanitarian situation exists in the southern city of Basra, where he said 13 people were killed and 51 injured by coalition bombs late Wednesday night. It is impossible for coalition forces to verify Iraq's claims.

Senior coalition officers and political leaders are saying all efforts to avoid civilian casualties are being made. But they say Iraq is placing troops and heavy weapons in or near civilian populations, sharply increasing the chance civilians will be harmed.

The coalition, for instance, reported that its forces seized a hospital in the southern city of Nasiriyah that was being used to hide a tank, 200 weapons and other military.

Health officials in Iraq say that while casualties throughout the country continue to grow, hospitals are functioning as normal and they are fully equipped with needed emergency and medical supplies. (Signed)

NEB/GL/ALW/KBK/FC