Attack on Iraq: Blasts, Air Raid Sirens Heard in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Anti-aircraft tracers flashed across the skies of Baghdad and explosions sounded in the city at dawn Thursday as President Bush launched war against Saddam Hussein.

Less than two hours after his deadline to the Iraqi leader expired, Bush gave a televised address saying strikes had begun ``to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war.

``These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign,'' he said.

Bush said Thursday's action was against ``targets of military opportunity.'' He called it the opening salvo in an operation to ``disarm Iraq and to free its people.''

The strikes used Tomahawk cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs dropped from F-117 Nighthawks, the Air Force's stealth fighter-bombers, military officials said. It was not immediately clear what targets they attacked.

Bush emphasized the war was not against the Iraqi people but their leadership. American messages broadcast on Iraqi airwaves to the population declared, ``This is the day you have been waiting for,'' according to Al-Jazeera TV.

The president on Monday gave Saddam and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq, a deadline that expired at 8 p.m. Wednesday EST and 4 a.m. Baghdad time. The Iraqi leadership rejected the ultimatum Tuesday.

At about 5:30 a.m., air sirens blared in the Iraqi capital as the military action began, though no airplanes were visible in the sky. A number of strong explosions went off in the city, one raising a ball of fire toward the southern part of the capital.

Frequent sonic booms and the sounds of aircraft could be heard in northern Iraq above the city of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdish autonomous enclave.

In Baghdad, the fire from the ground and the explosions stopped after about a half-hour, and the capital returned to the hush that reigned over the city as the deadline neared.

The only sound was a mosque's muezzin making the call for the faithful to come to dawn Islamic prayers. A handful of cars sped through the streets as the sun began to rise, but no pedestrians were out.

After the attack, a commentary broadcast on Iraqi satellite TV said: ``It's an inferno that awaits them,'' referring to U.S. and British forces. ``Let them try their faltering luck and they shall meet what awaits them.''

On Wednesday, hundreds of armed members of Saddam's Baath party and security forces had taken up positions throughout Baghdad behind sandbags and in foxholes. About half of them left the streets during the night.

There was no sign during the day of regular army troops or armor in or outside Baghdad, where Saddam was widely expected to make his final stand against any invaders.

Al-Shabab -- the most watched station in Iraq and owned by Saddam's son Odai -- broadcast hours of patriotic songs Wednesday and extensive archive footage of Saddam greeting crowds and firing off a rifle.

At night, the station showed an American movie, ``The Guilty,'' about lawyer who rapes an employee and hires his estranged son to kill her.

Almost every store was shut in Baghdad during the day. Traffic was light as residents continued to stream out of the capital, heading for the relative safety of the countryside.

In the minutes after the 4 a.m. deadline expired, Iraqi TV replayed footage of a pro-Saddam march earlier in the week, with people brandishing rifles, chanting slogans and carrying pictures of the Iraqi leader.

Since Bush issued his ultimatum, Iraqi officials remained defiant in the face of about 300,000 U.S. and British troops backed by 1,000 warplanes and a fleet of warships _ all ready for an attack on Iraq to rid it of weapons of mass destruction that Washington and London say Saddam is concealing.

Members of Iraq's parliament declared their loyalty to Saddam on Wednesday and renewed their confidence in his leadership.

``We are dedicated to martyrdom in defense of Iraq under your leadership,'' they said in a message to Saddam issued at the end of their session.

Speaker Saadoun Hammadi opened the meeting by saying: ``The people of Iraq, with a free and honest will, have spoken decisively and clearly in choosing their mujahid leader Saddam Hussein president of the country.''

Bahrain, a small Persian Gulf state allied with the United States, offered Saddam a haven Wednesday, the first such offer to be publicly extended to the Iraqi leader as Arabs scramble to avert war. There was no immediate Iraqi comment on the offer.

On Wednesday, Baghdad residents did last-minute shopping at the food stores that remained open, seemingly resigned that war would come within hours.

``We cry for Baghdad,'' said civil servant and part-time Baghdad historian Abdel-Jabar al-Tamimi. ``Tonight, we shall be awake waiting for the bombs to fall, but we will also remember that God is stronger than oppression. Wars come and go, but Baghdad will remain.''

U.N. weapons inspectors flew out of Iraq on Tuesday, ordered to leave by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan after the United States indicated war was near.

Foreign Minister Naji Sabri criticized Annan for withdrawing the inspectors as well as humanitarian workers and U.N. observers on the Iraq-Kuwait border, calling it a violation of U.N. resolutions that cleared ``the path for aggression.''