Iraq said on Tuesday June 26, 2001, that
U.S.-led coalition aircraft had struck at
"our civilian and service centers in the
province of Basra," killing three Iraqis —
an accusation denied by the United States.
Iraq said on Tuesday June 26, 2001, that
U.S.-led coalition aircraft had struck at
"our civilian and service centers in the
province of Basra," killing three Iraqis —
an accusation denied by the United States.
A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in
Florida, which directs the aircraft that enforce
the southern no-fly zone in Iraq, acknowledged
that U.S. planes had conducted a strike against
Basra on Monday, but said they had attacked an
anti-aircraft artillery site and not a civilian
target.
"The attack led to the martyrdom of three
citizens," an Iraqi Air Defense spokesman
told Iraq’s state-controlled news agency, INA.
"Yesterday we conducted a strike at an
Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery site," Lt. Col.
Rich Thomas told CNN. "It was in response to
Iraqi hostile acts."
Last week, Iraq said coalition planes killed
at least 22 young Iraqis on June 19 on a soccer
field in the northern city of Mosul.
In Washington, Pentagon officials said it was
probably a malfunctioning Iraqi anti-aircraft
missile that killed the young men.
That attack was the first strike by Western
warplanes in southern Iraq since June 14,
according to a statement from the U.S. Central
Command.
There have been "more than 900 separate
incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missile and
anti-aircraft artillery fire directed at coalition
aircraft since December 1998, including more than
275 in this calendar year," the statement
said.
Northern and southern no-fly zones were put
in place over Iraq following the 1991 Persian Gulf
War as part of an effort to prevent the Baghdad
government of President Saddam Hussein from
persecuting the minority Shiite Muslims in the
south and the Kurdish population in northern Iraq.
When was the last time the U.S. Bombed Iraq? –http://www.ccmep.org/us_bombing_watch.html
[ also see related items:
The United States is Still Bombing Iraq – http://www.theexperiment.org/articles.php?news_id=1438
The United States is Bombing Iraq – http://www.theexperiment.org/articles.php?news_id=1378
Yes, “We” are STILL Bombing Iraq – http://www.theexperiment.org/articles.php?news_id=1313
Yes, “We” Are Still Bombing Iraq – http://www.theexperiment.org/articles.php?news_id=735
Update On the Continued Bombing of Iraq – http://www.theexperiment.org/articles.php?news_id=542 ]
Author:
News Service: CNN
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