Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Saeed al-Sahhaf Saturday said a total of 140 Iraqis were killed and 351 others injured by U.S.-British air strikes on the country since Friday.
He said in a daily briefing in the capital, Baghdad, that 68 "were martyred only in Baghdad since last night's bombing, and 107 injured."
He added that 28 were killed and 48 others wounded in Anbar, three dead and 22 injured in Babel, six dead and 52 wounded in Karbala and 35 killed and 122 others wounded in Najaf.
The minister said the U.S. forces bombed an ambulance carrying a wounded man in Najaf, killing the patient, the driver and a medical assistant. "Congratulations to the villains. They now started hitting ambulances," he conveyed.
Sahhaf also dismissed reports saying that the U.S.-British forces were planning to delay their advance towards Baghdad for a few days, describing them as "deception tactics."
On Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's comments Friday indicating that Syria was sending weapons to Iraq, the Iraqi minister said these claims were "completely baseless, and is part of blackmailing the international community. But these efforts will fail."
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command said on Saturday there would be no "pause" in military operations in Iraq. Earlier, U.S. military sources in central Iraq said troops had been ordered to pause in their northward push on Baghdad.
"I think that with respect to a pause, there is no pause on the battlefield. Just because you see a particular formation pause on the battlefield it does not mean there is a pause," Major General Victor Renuart told a news conference.
"I don't believe there is any intent to pause on the battlefield. We will continue to focus our operations. Sometimes they will be focused in the west, sometimes in the north, sometimes in the south, sometimes all together," he said. (Albawaba.com)
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