October 7, 1999
Web posted at: 10:28 p.m. EDT (0228 GMT)

In this story: Iraq: 'Recognition' of civilian deaths Military targets in residential neighborhoods RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an effort to minimize civilian casualties, U.S. warplanes have been dropping bombs filled with concrete, rather than explosives, on targets in Iraq, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday.

Responding to a report in the New York Times, military officials in Washington and at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, where U.S. planes patrolling Iraq are based, confirmed that the concrete bombs were being used.

The new bombs were introduced following Iraqi allegations that bombings by U.S. jets -- in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire in the "no-fly" zone over northern Iraq -- were killing civilians.

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The bombs, which weigh between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds, are still capable of damaging or destroying the targets they hit. But without explosives, the bombs don't generate fragments that could kill or wound civilians. A Pentagon spokesman said bombs with explosives are still be used in some circumstances.

Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Saeed Hasan, said the use of concrete bombs was "recognition by the United States that its bombs are killing Iraqi civilians."

"Whether it is concrete bombs, explosive bombs, depleted uranium bombs, they are bombs killing Iraqi civilians," he said. "They are ... a part of a military campaign against an independent country, a use of force without any authorization by the (U.N.) Security Council."

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton, during an appearance in Virginia, declined to discuss how much or under what circumstances the concrete bombs are being used.

"If we have a target, a specific target that we are very concerned about collateral damage, but it's very important that we hit that target, that is a technique that we have of going after it," he said.

U.S. officials say Iraq positions military targets in residential neighborhoods in a deliberate policy of fomenting international sympathy by publicizing civilian casualties after those targets are hit.

U.S. and British planes have been patrolling the "no-fly" zones over both northern and southern Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War to protect Kurdish and Shiite minority groups.

Iraq does not recognize the zones and has been challenging the flights with anti-aircraft fire, prompting retaliatory attacks from the United States and Britain.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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