By Reuters, 01/07/99

UNITED NATIONS - US and British air raids last month flattened an agricultural school, damaged at least a dozen other schools and hospitals, and knocked out water supplies for 300,000 people in Baghdad, according to a report by UN agencies yesterday.

The survey by UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, and the World Food Program concentrated on health and educational facilities affected by US and British air strikes against Iraq three weeks ago.

It was the first such report from UN officials in Iraq. The World Food Program said a missile destroyed a large storehouse filled with 2,600 tons of rice in Tikrit, President Saddam Hussein's home town, 100 miles north of Baghdad, the capital.

In Baghdad, UNICEF said there were broken glass, doors, and other damage at a maternity hospital, a teaching hospital, and an outpatients' clinic in Saddam Medical City.

Parts of the Health Ministry were also damaged, including windows, walls, doors, and electrical wiring and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs received a direct hit, and two guards were seriously injured, the report said.

One of the main water systems in Karrada, a Baghdad suburb, was hit by a cruise missile, cutting off water to about 300,000. UNICEF has asked the UN Security Council's sanctions committee to approve water treatment materials immediately, saying the city was faces a shortage of clean water.

In Basra, UNICEF reported that 10 schools suffered damage, including to windows, doors, and electrical wiring.

And in Kirkuk, in the Kurdish north, a secondary school sustained a direct hit, the report said.

The United States and Britain launched the strikes after the head of the UN Special Commission in charge of disarming Iraq, Richard Butler, issued a report saying that Baghdad had failed to abide by a promise to resume full cooperation with his teams.