1 dead, 5,000 suffer breathing problems in Iraqi sandstorm

BAGHDAD, Iraq - One person died in Iraq and more than 5,000 were treated in hospitals Thursday for respiratory ailments due to a sandstorm, the seventh in a month, the health ministry said.

"One death has been recorded in Baghdad" and hospitals "have received no less than 5,000 cases so far," health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr said in a statement, adding that the majority had since been discharged and most cases were of "medium or low intensity". -- Agence France-Presse