A US F-16 jet fighter fired a missile at an Iraqi anti aircraft battery whose radar started tracking the plane while it patrolled an allied no fly zone over southern Iraq on Saturday, US officials said yesterday.
In Baghdad, the Iraqi Defence Ministry denied that any such confrontation had occurred and accused the White House of fabricating an incident to help President Clinton get re elected.
"The American allegations are groundless," a spokesman said. "No incident took place in the airspace of southern Iraq."
He dismissed the report as a "fabrication" and said Iraq would pursue a proposal from Russia, France and other countries to settle the issue of "illegal air exclusion zones peacefully.
A White House spokesman said in New Orleans on Saturday that an F 16 fired at an Iraqi missile battery after being tracked by its radar and that Mr Clinton had been briefed on the clash.
Lieut Col Andrew Bourland of the US air force said the F 16 fired a High Anti Radiation Missile (HARM) at a mobile surface to air missile system after its radar "illuminated" the plane near Iraq's 32nd parallel.
"The aircraft returned to Prince Sultan Air Base (in Saudi Arabia) without further incident," Col Bourland said in Riyadh.
Col Bourland, spokesman for the Joint Task Force South West Asia, which enforces the no fly zone, said US forces were trying to determine the damage done to the Iraqi site.
A US military official, who asked not to be named, said the incident occurred south east of Kut al Hayy, which is between the 32nd and 33rd parallels.
The US unilaterally extended the no fly zone from the 32nd to the 33rd parallel after tiring cruise missiles at air defence sites south of Baghdad on September 3rd and 4th to punish Iraq for sending troops into northern Kurdish safe areas.
On October 15th, the White House said Iraqi anti aircraft systems hit by the US cruise missiles in September did not pose a threat to pilots patrolling the no fly zone.
The Washington Post reported, however, that it took Iraq only two weeks to rebuild its surface to air missile network.