"Shooting suddenly erupts and, after the silence falls, we see piles of dead bodies of Iraqi civilians killed by US and British soldiers, who are overwhelmed by hysterical fear and are now treating anything that moves as another suicide bomber," Al-Jazirah newspaper of Saudi Arabia wrote.

The paper said that so far only two major incidents had been reported but warned that the Iraqi desert was so vast that the possibility existed that several other massacres might have taken place.

"Of course, this is on top of the victims of aerial bombardment in which smart bombs have become stupid by targeting civilians and their institutions over military objectives," it added.

The daily warned that the invader forces were "behaving nervously and it appears certain they will kill many innocent Iraqis during the campaign."

Another Saudi newspaper, Al-Riyadh, echoed the criticism. "The United States is the most brutal country in using forbidden weapons," it said, recalling how Washington used atomic bombs against Japan and napalm in Vietnam.

Al-Madina, also of Saudi Arabia, said: "War is a humanitarian tragedy, but it turns into a catastrophe when a technical error results in a massacre in which innocent women, children and old men are the victims."

In the United Arab Emirates, the Al-Khaleej newspaper said: "You cannot save a people by killing them.

"Each day brings its lot of crimes and errors," it added, comparing the apologies offered by the United States for civilian losses to the "attitude of the assassin at the funerals of his victims."

Abu Dhabi's official Al-Ittihad called for the "protection of civilians in Iraq to spare them the horrors of war".

In neighbouring Dubai, Al-Bayan said: "The new way the war is developing seems to indicate that the Americans are seeking to terrorise Iraqi civilians."

The Emirati papers splashed photographs of Iraqis weeping in the farming town of Hilla south of the capital, where the local hospital director said 33 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in a bombing raid Tuesday.

In Qatar, dailies Al-Sharq and Al-Watan called for an end to hostilities and urged countries opposed to the war such as China, France and Russia to take the intiative.

SPACE.WIRE