WASHINGTON (Islamweb & News Agencies) - U.S. Air Force planes bombed an air defense site in northern Iraq Tuesday and President Bush pledged to keep Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's military ambitions in check. (Read photo caption below).
In a brief announcement on Tuesday's attack north of the city of Mosul, the U.S. European Command said U.S. pilots acted in self-defense after Iraq launched surface-to-air missiles and fired anti-aircraft artillery.
Officials said it was not a planned attack in response to the recent near-miss Iraqi attack on a U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane.
European Command said the U.S. aircraft, which flew from an air base in south-central Turkey, departed Iraqi airspace safely.
In Baghdad, the official Iraqi News Agency quoted an unidentified military spokesman as saying Tuesday that ``American and British warplanes bombed civil and service installations.''
The Iraqi News Agency reported no casualties.
Vacationing in Texas, Bush defended the missions as a necessary response to Iraqi provocations.
Bush said he had been briefed on the U.S. retaliation. ``Our military can make decisions as they see fit to protect our pilots, unless of course it's close to Baghdad, in which case it requires my approval. The missions that took place were fully in accordance with established allied war plans.''
Tuesday's incident was the latest in a long-running series of attacks and counterattacks in northern and southern Iraq, where U.S. and British aircraft enforce no-fly zones established shortly after the 1991 Gulf War.
Iraq considers the no-fly zones to be illegal and has mounted a sustained effort to shoot down a U.S. or British plane.
PHOTO CAPTION:
U.S. President George W. Bush talks to the press about the latest incident in Iraq as he sits in a golf cart after playing a round of golf at a Waco golf course, August 7, 2001. Bush is spending a month-long vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. REUTERS/Jeff Mitchell REUTERS
- Aug 07 12:56 PM ET