Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

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If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service,

first-hand accounts of events that have shaped our world.

I'm Mike Lanchim.

Today we're going back to February of 1991 when two US precision smart bombs were dropped

on an air raid shelter in Western Baghdad, killing several hundred Iraqi civilians.

I've been hearing from one woman whose four

children were inside the shelter that night.

So Operation Desert Storm started like this with the unsuspecting Iraqis about one hour's flight away.

Operation Desert Storm, the US-led assault against Saddam Hussein, had begun in mid-January

1991.

These precision weapons of the 21st century carrying conventional warheads were fired at Iraq

300 miles away from the battleship Wisconsin in the Gulf.

Months of diplomatic efforts to force the Iraqi leader to withdraw his forces from

neighbouring Kuwait had come to nothing.

Now hundreds of US planes and missiles were pounding the

Iraqi capital. This American airman had recently returned from a sortie over Baghdad.

...