IRAQ: Iraq said US and British warplanes struck civilian targets in the north of the country yesterday, killing four people and wounding ten others.
The US military said the planes attacked an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile site in a northern "no-fly" zone in response to threats against the aircraft.
"American and British planes violated our air space at 10.30 a.m. local time today, coming from bases in Turkey and flying over Amadiya, Zakho, Rawandiz, Arbeil, Mosul and Duhouk," an Iraqi military spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).
"The enemy attacked civilian and service installations in Nineveh province, killing four people and injuring ten others."
Nineveh province is about 396 km north of the capital Baghdad.
The US European Command, which is responsible for patrolling the northern zone, said in a news release from its headquarters in Germany that the war planes responded to threats to shoot them down by attacking an "imminently hostile surface-to-air missile system" with guided weapons.
The strike against the air defence target was the 47th of the year by US and British jets policing no-fly zones set up in Iraq following the Gulf War.
The frequency of the air strikes against Iraqi air defences has fluctuated since the Gulf War but have increased in recent months as speculation has grown that President Bush might order an invasion to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction. - (Reuters)