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US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter

Hundreds of civilians killed in Baghdad in the first Gulf War, plus a newspaper set up to help the homeless, and a 1970s drug scandal that blighted the lives of generations.

More than 400 civilians were killed when two US precision bombs hit the Amiriya air raid shelter in western Baghdad on the morning of 13 February 1991. The Americans claimed that the building had served as a command and control centre for Saddam Hussein's forces. It was the largest single case of civilian casualities that ocurred during Operation Desert Storm. Also in this week's programme, a drug scandal from the 1970s which blighted the lives of generations, rare archive of the celebrated British artist, Francis Bacon, the 1980s New York Street News newspaper set up to help the homeless and we hear from a nurse from West Africa who devoted her life to the British health service.

Photo: Inside the Amiriya air-raid shelter following the US bombing (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)

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53 minutes

Last on

Tue 16 Feb 2021 00:06GMT

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  • Sat 13 Feb 2021 14:06GMT
  • Tue 16 Feb 2021 00:06GMT

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