Arab League to meet on attack

Cairo - The Arab League will hold an emergency meeting at the weekend at Baghdad's request to discuss US-British air strikes …

Cairo - The Arab League will hold an emergency meeting at the weekend at Baghdad's request to discuss US-British air strikes on Iraq, officials said yesterday.

They said the Arab League's council would meet tomorrow or on Sunday, but it was not immediately clear whether Arab foreign ministers or the permanent representatives at the Cairo-based organisation would attend the session.

The Arab League's secretary-general, Mr Esmat AbdelMeguid, yesterday denounced the raids as aggression against an Arab country that would not solve Baghdad's dispute with the UN over arms inspections.

"This strike is considered to be an act of aggression against an Arab country that was trying to implement and comply with UN Security Council resolutions," Mr Abdel-Meguid said in Rome.