Iraq said US and British warplanes struck civilian targets in the south of the country today but no casualities were reported.
An Iraqi military spokesman, quoted by the official Iraqi News Agency INA, said the planes carried out 31 sorties from bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia at 11.45 a.m. (7 a.m. Irish time) and 3.05 p.m. (11.05 a.m. Irish time) today.
The enemy attacked our civilian and service installations in Nasiriya province, the spokesman said.
In Washington, the military Central Command said US warplanes struck an air defence site in Iraq after aircraft on patrol in the southern no-fly zone encountered hostile Iraqi fire.
The Iraqi military spokesman said Iraqi air defence units fired on the jets and forced them to return to their bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Central Command said all US aircraft returned safely from the area. There was no immediate report of damage on the ground.
US and British jets have been policing no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq for more than a decade. The zones were set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims from attack by President Saddam Hussein's military.
The last time Iraq reported an attack by US and British planes was on February 28th when they hit targets in the north of the country, injuring three civilians.
The U.S. military said the last coalition strike in the southern no-fly zone was against an Iraqi anti-artillery site on January 21st.
The latest attack came amid growing speculation that a US military strike on Baghdad may be imminent. The United States and Britain stress, however, that no decision has been made.
US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair vowed last week to tackle Saddam over the threat they say he poses with weapons of mass destruction, saying inaction was not an option.
Baghdad has refused to allow UN weapons inspectors into Iraq since they pulled out in December 1998 on the eve of US- British air strikes aimed at punishing the country for failing to cooperate with the inspectors.