Carnage precedes ceasefire

Press, 13 June 1984, Page 10

Carnage precedes ceasefire

NZPA-Reuter Bahrain Iran and Iraq were due to end a wave of attacks on cities and towns which have killed hundreds of civilians on both sides of the border. A few hours before the deadline for a ceasefire agreement was to come into force, Iraq hit the southwest Iranian city of Dezful in an attack which Teheran said killed at least 20 civilians and wounded more than 150.

Iraq said the attack on Dezful, which lies only 80km from the border, was in reply to Iranian artillery shelling of. the southern Iraqi port of Basra and four border towns on Monday which killed two civilians and wounded 12. The Iranian National News Agency said Dezful was hit by four missiles in the latest attack, the third on the city in live. days. It said 20 civilians died in the earlier raids. Officials in Teheran said 460 Iranian civilians had been killed in Iraqi missile and air raids in the week since an Iraqi attack on the north-western Iranian town of Baneh, which left 325 dead and another 300 wounded.

The agreement to halt the attacks on civilian targets was in response to an appeal from the United

Nations Secretary-General. Javier Perez du Cuellar, who is on a five nation factfinding tour of the Middle East. A Bagdad newspaper said Iraq would keep up its blockade of Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal, which it considers a legitimate military target. Both Iran and Iraq said they would welcome U.N. monitoring of the agreement. and Japan and Sweden said they would be ready to supply observers for a U.N. team. Mr Perez de Cuellar, who arrived in Israel yesterday from Jordan on the last leg of his tour, said in Amman on Monday that he would have to study the replies from Bagdad " and Teheran before deciding on whether to send observers to the war zone.

He said he was hopeful that the 44-month-old conflict would not spread along the gulf, but described as serious the attacks on shipping outside the territorial waters of the combatants. The Gulf Arab States have accused Iran of a recent spate of attacks on Saudi Arabian and Kuwaitiowned tankers on the southern side of the Gulf, the latest a strike against a Kuwaiti tanker two days ago.