British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said Wednesday that the US and British forces had not targeted a market in Baghdad, which was bombed Wednesday leaving 14 Iraqi civilians dead and some 30 others wounded.
"Certainly a market place has never, never been targeted by coalition," Hoon told the parliament when asked about the air raid, claiming the coalition "will look again and continue to look at ways in which we could minimize civilian casualties."
BBC's Andrew Gillian, who was at the scene, said it appeared that two missiles hit a busy parade of shops at about 11:30 am (0830 GMT) in Baghdad's northern Shaab residential district, which is several hundred miles from any military buildings.
An angry crowd of several hundred people gathered in the area following the strike, waving the shoes and clothes of victims and shouting: "Down with Bush, Long live Saddam," said Gillian.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2003)
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