Anti-aircraft fire and missile traces lit up the Baghdad sky last night for the first time since December 1998 as US and British aircraft attacked five key radar posts south of the city.
Twenty-four aircraft from the Central Command region carried out what a Pentagon spokesman described as a "self-defence" mission against command and control centres which were contributing to increased harrying of coalition air patrols in the no-fly zone a few miles to the south.
The air strikes, combined with a surprise fall in profits for Nortel Networks comp, the Canadian world-leader in fibre-optics, sent stocks plummeting on Wall Street, with many Irish-related companies badly hit.
It was the first attack in two years of targets north of the 33rd parallel, the limit of the southern of two no-fly zones imposed on Iraq following the recapture of Kuwait by coalition forces. But the planes did not travel out of the zone, instead using "standoff" missiles from the 33rd parallel to hit their targets.
In the city there were reports of loud explosions.
A TV station in Baghdad reported that a woman had been killed and 11 more civilians wounded. It showed pictures of some of the injured in the city's Yarmouk hospital.
However, a spokesman for the Pentagon in Washington insisted the attacks had been on sites well away from civilian centres.
Speaking in Mexico, President Bush last night emphasised that the US was simply enforcing the no-fly zone. It was a "routine mission".
"Saddam Hussein has got to understand that we expect him to enforce the agreement he signed after Desert Storm," he said. "We will enforce the no-fly zones in the south and north." And if the regime developed weapons of mass destruction, he said, the US would "take appropriate action".
The attack marks the "blooding" of Mr Bush, who approved it on Thursday, although the Pentagon was insisting it reflected no "qualitative change" in policy.
Christine Newman adds: Irish politicians last night condemned the renewed bombing of Iraq. The Fianna Fail MEP, Mr Niall Andrews, said it was a very sensitive time following the Israeli elections.
Labour Party spokesman Mr Michael D. Higgins said he was appalled. He said Ireland should raise the issue at the UN and that he would try to have the matter discussed in the Dail next week.
Mr John Gormley, Green Party TD, also condemned the bombing.
Fine Gael spokesman on Foreign Affairs Mr Jim O'Keeffe said it was up to the Americans and British to explain their actions. This was an utterly new development, and an explanation of these bombings must be sought.