Western raid overshadows Iraq inspections, Britain insists goal is peace.

(From Agence France Presse)

Iraq mourned four dead after a Western bombing raid, overshadowing the fourth day of UN arms inspections, as Britain and the United States prepared to defend their tough line against Baghdad.

Hundreds of US military personnel were meanwhile setting up a hi-tech command centre in Qatar for war games in the emirate as the Pentagon stepped up deployments in the Gulf, but a British government spokesman insisted war was not the goal.

Twenty-seven people were wounded along with the four killed when US and British warplanes bombed "civilian and services installations" in Basra and two other southern provinces, an Iraqi military sopkesman said.

Residents of Basra had told AFP earlier by telephone that at least eight people were killed and 20 injured when Western jets bombed the premises of the Southern Oil Company.

Between 600 and 700 employees were in the buildings at the time of the raid some 560 kilometers (350 miles) south of Baghdad, according to residents who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The US Central Command also reported that US-British coalition warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense site Sunday 274 kilometers (170 miles) southeast of Baghdad after Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery at coalition aircraft in the northern no-fly zone.