Iraq said today US and British warplanes hit civilian targets in the south of Iraq, but the US military said the planes attacked an air defence command centre after threats against allied aircraft.
An Iraqi military spokesman said one civilian was wounded in the attack which destroyed two houses.
In Washington, the US military said U.S. and British warplanes attacked an air defence command centre southeast of Baghdad in response to continuing threats against the aircraft policing a "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq.
The strike was the latest in a growing series in recent months in response to what Washington says are increased attempts to shoot down US and British aircraft enforcing no-fly zones set up in northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War.
Recent air strikes against Iraqi air defences have increased sharply as speculation has grown that US President George W Bush might order an invasion to oust President Saddam Hussein, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
The Pentagon said last week after the most recent strike against an air defence target - a missile site southeast of Baghdad - that Iraqi gunners had increasingly fired on aircraft policing the zones since Saddam offered on September 16th to let U.N. weapons inspectors return to his country.
The no-fly zones, which Baghdad does not recognise, were imposed to protect a Kurdish enclave in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from possible attacks by the Iraqi government.