The World - News from Sept. 8, 1989

Iraq said that 19 people died in an explosion at a fuel depot about 40 miles south of Baghdad, contradicting reports by British media and Kurdish dissidents that at least 700 people died and that the site was a top-secret missile plant. According to a statement released by the Iraqi Embassy in London, 19 firefighters and civil defense workers battling a blaze at a depot containing “highly flammable gasoline materials” were killed last month when a passing truck packed with explosives detonated.