"At 08:20 a.m.(0420 GMT) on Wednesday, U.S. and British warplanes violated our air space, carrying out 12 sorties from Saudi Arabia and 25 sorties from Kuwait," an Iraqi military spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency.
BAGHDAD – Iraq said U.S and British planes flying from bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait attacked targets in the south of the country on Wednesday[06.06.01], but no casualties were reported.
"At 08:20 a.m.(0420 GMT) on Wednesday, U.S. and British warplanes violated our air space, carrying out 12 sorties from Saudi Arabia and 25 sorties from Kuwait," an Iraqi military spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency.
"The planes flew over the provinces of Basra, Dhi qar, Meissan, Muthanna, Najaf, Qadissiya and Kerbala," he said. He said the planes attacked civilian and service installations in Amara city, Meissan province, but were forced to return to their bases by Iraqi air-defence fire.
There was no immediate confirmation from the United States or Britain. The U.S. military said American jets enforcing a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq had attacked an anti-aircraft artillery site on Tuesday "in response to recent Iraqi hostile acts."
An Iraqi military spokesman was quoted in Iraqi newspapers on Wednesday as confirming the U.S. report, saying the U.S. had attacked unspecified civilian installations. He said British planes had also been involved.
Western powers established no-fly zones in the north and south of Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991 to help protect a Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq and Shi’ite Muslims in the south from possible attacks by Iraqi forces.
Last Monday, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said improvements in Iraqi defences had increased the risk of an American plane being shot down.
U.S. military commanders overseeing operations over Iraq have said it might be necessary to cut back on the enforcement flights in the face of increasing and more effective attacks on them from the ground.
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News Service: Reuters
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