Unknown explosion shakes Baghdad

An explosion of "unknown source" on Thursday shook Baghdad's downtown, five days after the suspension of US-British attacks on Iraq.

The press center official at the Iraqi Ministry of Culture and Information could not give an explanation of the reason behind the explosion or get information about victims or casualties.

On last Sunday, the director general of the Iraqi civil defense, Qasem Muhammad Nouri, warned Iraqi citizens against touching any of remains of the raids which hit Baghdad for three successive days. Iraqi television on Thursday screened the photos of two missiles fired by "enemy war planes on Tuesday on southern Iraq after the end of the aggression." The photos showed a hole five meters deep and two meters in diameter. The commentary which accompanied the photos said, "Even if the US and Britain deny the launching of the missiles, this photo proves the opposite."

Meanwhile, the UN has announced that Iraqi Deputy Premier Tariq Aziz stressed the ban on UN air flights over Iraqi airspace, temporarily. This was asserted in a telephone call Aziz made with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday, said a statement released by the UN.

The statement added that Aziz stressed that this measure was taken to ensure the safety of the UN planes.