Some 20 Iraqis wounded in American raids

An Iraqi military spokesman said on Thursday that some 20 Iraqis were wounded in air raids launched by the US warplanes on Thursday on the northern and southern parts of Iraq.

US and British Jets are launching continuous raids on Iraqi targets on the two no-fly zones in the northern and southern parts of Iraq.

On the other hand, the Iraqi Health Ministry has announced that more than 7,000 Iraqis, including 6,400 children under five, died during March due to the shortage in medicines as a result of the embargo imposed by the UN.

The Iraqi News agency quoted a spokesman for the Iraqi Health Ministry as saying that the "number of deaths in the Iraqi people during March this year as a result of several diseases and malnutrition because of the siege imposed since eight years reached 7,520 persons."

The spokesman added that number of deaths "among children under five in (March) was 6,399 as a result of diarrhea and malnutrition," and disease. The spokesman added that the number of deaths among the Iraqi elderly in the same month was 1,121 as a result of diseases such as heart diseases, high blood pressure, and diabetes.