US and British warplanes have bombed Baghdad tonight in the first raid on the city in more than two years.
Washington claims to have targetted air defence systems but Iraqi television has reported that civilians, including three children, have been injured.
"Baghdad was bombed today by enemy American planes," the television announced. "This aggression is not new. American enemy planes bomb Iraqi cities daily," it said.
The television gave no further details about the raids, the first significant strike since US President George W. Bush, who was in Mexico today, took office nearly a month ago.
But in Washington, a senior US official said US and British warplanes struck Iraqi radar and command posts north of the 33rd parallel.
The strikes were in response to increased Iraqi activity over the past month and a half attempting to target US and British aircraft patrolling a no-fly zone in southern Iraq, said the Pentagon official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Therefore, we thought it gave an increased vulnerability to our forces operating over the south, and we wanted to strike that integrated air defense system and the command and control system that supported that to kind of roll that capability back and make it a little bit safer for coalition aircraft," the official said.
In London, Britain's defence ministry confirmed that British jets took part in a joint raid with US warplanes.
"Some targets were attacked north of the 33rd parallel, which marks the limit of the southern 'no fly' zone," a defence spokesman said.
Several loud explosions were heard in Baghdad at 8.50 p.m. (5.50 p.m. Irish time) and anti-aircraft defences opened fire. Air raid warning sirens had gone off to alert the population.
Incidents occur almost daily between Iraq and US and British warplanes enforcing no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, but the last raids on Baghdad were in December 1998.
Iraq says 323 people have been killed and 957 injured by raids since December 1998, when Baghdad began to challenge the force in response to a US-British bombing campaign. The United States and Britain launched a four-day aerial assault during Operation Desert Fox to punish Baghdad for failing to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors.
The Pentagon said all the British and American aircraft involved in the raids returned to their bases safely.
The British Ministry Of Defence said the raids had all been on "legitimate military targets" linked to Iraq's integrated air defence system.
The action followed a recent increase in attacks on British and US aircraft, with more ground-to-air missiles fired by the Iraqis in January than in the whole of 2000.
AFP, PA