  We use the cannonball (CB) model of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and their
afterglows (AGs) to analyze the observational data on X-ray flashes (XRFs) and
their AGs. We show that the observations support the CB-model interpretation
that XRFs, like GRBs, are produced by the explosions of core-collapse
supernovae (SNe) akin to SN1998bw, by jets of highly-relativistic CBs. The XRFs
and GRBs are intrinsically identical objects, but the XRFs are viewed from
angles (relative to the jet direction) which are typically a few times larger
than the typical viewing angles of ``classical'', long-duration GRBs. There
should be XRFs, not observed so far, with durations similar to those of short
GRBs.
