Up to 100 British and US jets attacked a military base last night after Iraqi forces attacked one of their patrols in the no-fly zone.
Coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons to hit an air defence command-and-control facility at a military airfield 240 miles southwest of Baghdad the US Central Command said.
Most of the aircraft, including tankers and Awacs reconnaissance planes, were acting in a support role for a total of 12 fighter jets believed to be US F-16s and British Tornados, it was reported.
Last night's raid was the 35th air strike reported this year by the Anglo-American coalition patrolling zones in the north and south of Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War.
The strike was in the southern zone, set up to protect Shi'ite Muslims, and it was the 25th one in the zone this year. In the northern zone, set up to protect Kurds, there have been 10 this year.
Both groups were given the protection against Iraqi overflights after unsuccessfully revolting against the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The Pentagon has denied a report that it was the biggest single air strike in four years in Iraq, saying the bombing was of "normal proportions."
The London newspaper The Daily Telegraphsaid a dozen US and British warplanes dropped precision bombs and that about 100 aircraft took part in the mission, which it said was the biggest single operation in Iraq in over four years.
"The number [of aircraft] is wrong. This idea that it's the largest strike in four years is wrong," said Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.
But Lt Col Lapan was unable to say how may warplanes took part in the strike but said it was "of normal proportions directed at a site that fired at US aircraft."
AFP &