Iraq reports pullout in Iran after striking siege area

Iraq said its troops had withdrawn from Iranian territory after achieving their objectives in the Mehran area, where bitter fighting had been reported on the central Gulf war front.

An Iraqi commander on the front said earlier his forces destroyed 70 percent of the Iranian troops he said had been besieged in the Mehran area.

In Tehran, an Iranian military communique said its forces had captured two strategic border heights from Iraq north of Mehran after launching a second stage of an offensive in the central front.