Around the World

Iraq says two killed in U.S.-British raid

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and British warplanes bombed sites in southern Iraq yesterday, and the official Iraqi News Agency reported two civilians were killed and two were wounded.

A statement released at the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said 22 coalition aircraft targeted four Iraqi military sites with precision-guided munitions - including a military radar site at Nasiriyah, 17 miles southeast of Baghdad.

The Central Command statement said the attack came in response to anti-aircraft artillery fire at coalition aircraft in the southern zone Monday and yesterday, military leaders said.

U.S. Central Command said all planes returned safely and no other coalition forces were involved.

The Iraqi news agency, INA, said the attacks took place at 12:50 p.m. local time. It did not specify the nature of the targets hit or exact locations.

"The U.S. and British aircraft committed another vicious crime ... when they bombed one of our civil and service installations in southern Iraq," INA said. "The bombing led to the martyrdom of two civilians and the wounding of two others."

U.S. and British planes frequently have attacked Iraqi military sites since Iraq began challenging the patrols in December 1998. Baghdad does not recognize the no-fly zones set up shortly after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to protect Shiite Muslims in the south and Kurds in the north from attacks by Iraqi armed forces.

Russia angry with U.N. intervention

MOSCOW - Russia warned the international community not to meddle in its domestic affairs yesterday after the top U.N. human rights official said she was shocked by accounts of killings and cruelty in Chechnya.

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Russia considers Chechnya an internal problem.

''We will never allow this problem to be used as a pretext for interference into Russia's domestic affairs,'' he said.

Russia is under increasing international pressure to investigate allegations that its troops in Chechnya have executed civilians, tortured detainees and gone on rampages of rape and pillaging.

The Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights body, is expected to vote this week on whether to suspend Russia over its Chechnya campaign. Suspension would be a blow to Russia's image and its relations with the West.

Robinson said a three-day weekend trip to Chechnya and the neighboring republic of Ingushetia overwhelmed her with convincing accounts of abuses.

''I was shocked and appalled by the harrowing accounts of the Chechen civilians,'' Robinson said in a statement. ''I listened to testimony of summary executions, intimidation, looting by military personnel, disproportionate use of force, attacks on civilian convoys, rape and other violations.''

She said Russian officials barred her from visiting some areas in Chechnya, including Grozny's neighborhood of Aldy. Russian troops allegedly killed scores of civilians in the neighborhood in February.

Russian officials previously said that Robinson was unable to go to Aldy because of security concerns. Ivanov said Russia was attempting to be accommodating.

''I cannot remember even one case in international practice in which a government of a country solving its internal problem would have been so open for cooperation with international organizations,'' he said.

Robinson said there also was evidence that Chechen rebels were guilty of abuses, including kidnapping and killing civilians. She did not make any direct accusations and avoided criticism of the Russian government.

Robinson wanted to meet President Vladimir Putin, but the Russian leader declined, according to Russian press reports.

Family members Tuesday mourned the deaths of several Russian soldiers killed last week in an ambush in southern Chechnya, attending funerals in the Perm region of the Urals Mountains. Scores of servicemen died in the ambush, a stark reminder of how federal troops remain vulnerable in Chechnya.

Putin attended a separate ceremony in Moscow for three members of the elite Alpha commando unit which tried to rescue the ambushed column.

Chechnya was relatively quiet yesterday, with minor fighting overnight in the capital, Grozny.

Russian troops have driven the main rebel forces out of the northern flatlands into the mountains that make up Chechnya's southern third, but seem unable to progress much further.

Russia sent troops into Chechnya in September, following weeks of airstrikes, after Chechnya-based militants invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan. Russia also blames the rebels for apartment bombings that killed about 300 people in September.