AS-SALIYAH (Qatar) March 25: A senior US commander warned Iraqi civilians on Tuesday that much of their country was now a battlefield and urged them to stay home and off main roads to avoid harm from invading US and British forces.

“The battlefield extends across the country now,” Air Force Brigadier General Victor Renuart told a press briefing at the US military’s command headquarters here.

“We have forces in all parts of the country. It’s really not safe for the Iraqi people to try to leave the cities and drive away to avoid danger. It’s much safer for them to remain in their homes, remain in their towns, remain in their villages.”

He said that through leaflets dropped over the country and radio broadcasts, Iraqis have been advised to steer clear of military formations as well as any building used by the country’s leadership.

But Renuart stressed that US Central Command, which is directing the air and land assault on Iraq, was not declaring Iraq a “no-drive zone.”

He repeated assurances that US and British forces were going to great lengths “to ensure that the most precise targeting possible is used,” but acknowledged that “warfare, even in its most precise fashion, is not absolute.”

“There are errors that occur. Some percentage of the weapons we use will err from their targets,” he said.

Iraqi officials say more than 100 civilians have been killed since last Thursday when US and British aircraft began nightly air strikes on Baghdad and air and ground operations in other parts of the country.

A US military spokesman here acknowledged — and regretted — Monday that an allied attack on a bridge in western Iraq killed innocent people the previous day.

A statement issued by Central Command pinned ultimate responsibility on Saddam Hussein and his regime, insisting that its failure to honour United Nations disarmament demands triggered the war.

The attack on the bridge appeared to be at variance with stated US and British aims that the allied campaign seeks to preserve as much of Iraqi infrastructure as possible.

US and British officers have said that in several recent clashes with the Iraqis their troops encountered seasoned fighters dressed in civilian clothes and operating civilian vehicles, recalling the US nightmare in Vietnam when American soldiers were unable to distinguish friend from foe.

“It’s just like in Vietnam,” said Naval Commander Ken Kelly, currently assigned to a marine unit locked in fierce combat with Iraqi forces near Nasiriyah, southern Iraq.

“You can’t tell who’s friendly, who wants a glass of water and who wants to detonate a bomb.”

Such experiences may well have left allied troops jittery and suspicious around Iraqi civilians, thereby endangering them even further.

Renuart appeared to allude to such a risk to civilians at Tuesday’s press briefing.

“Because of the behaviour of these paramilitary organizations that we’ve seen, it certainly causes us great concern when we see buses and pick-up trucks driving in areas where there’s no reason for civilians to be driving,” he said.—AFP