On this day in 1991, during the Gulf War, at least 408 Iraqi civilians were killed when an air-raid shelter in the Amiriyah neighborhood of Baghdad was destroyed by two U.S. Air Force "smart bombs".

The shelter was used in the Iran-Iraq War and the Persian Gulf War by hundreds of civilians. The U.S. military claimed the shelter was a legitimate military target because it fit the profile of a military command center.

Seven Iraqi families living in Belgium who lost loved ones in the attack launched a lawsuit against former President George H. W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, and General Norman Schwarzkopf for committing war crimes.

The suit was brought under Belgium's universal jurisdiction guarantees in March 2003, but was dismissed in September.