Frightened refugees arriving at the border with Jordan reported civilian deaths and said water and electricity supplies in Baghdad had been cut off.

Controversy flared about a destroyed factory, which Iraq claimed had been a baby milk plant.

The scene outside the Amirya bomb shelter "Most of bodies were burnt beyond recognition" The BBC's Jeremy Bowen, Amirya bomb shelter

US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, said the US was sure it was a biological weapons facility.

On Wednesday 13 February, a US stealth bomber dropped two laser-guided bombs on what the allies had pinpointed as an important command and control bunker.

But it turned out to be a shelter used by Iraqi civilians during the air raids. At least 315 people were killed, 130 of them children.

Meanwhile Saddam Hussein exploited the allies’ mistakes to maximum propaganda effect, and also detained more Kuwaiti civilians as human shields at key military and industrial sites in Iraq.