The World : Iraqi Disaster Reported

Up to 700 people were killed in an explosion last month at a secret defense establishment near Baghdad, where Iraq is believed to be developing new missiles, Britain’s Independent newspaper reported. Quoting U.S. diplomats and Middle Eastern sources, the newspaper said the blast occurred Aug. 17, causing a blaze that firefighting planes took nearly a week to extinguish. The explosion at the complex near Hillah, 40 miles south of Baghdad, was apparently loud enough to be heard in the Iraqi capital, the newspaper said. It quoted U.S. diplomats as saying they had heard from Iraqi sources of a major incident in which casualties were “in the low hundreds.”