U.S. Plane Bombs Iraqi Air Defenses

20/06/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: One Person Injured||Washington Says Precision-guided Bombs Were Used in the Attack|| May 28, Last Baghdad-Reported U.S. Planes' Attack in the North|| STORY: An American fighter jet dropped a bomb on an anti-aircraft artillery site in northern Iraq on Wednesday after Iraqi air defense forces fired on U.S. planes patrolling a "no fly" zone, officials said.

Iraq said one person was injured. The U.S. military had no comment on that report.

Baghdad last reported firing by U.S. and British aircraft on the north of the country on May 28, when it said five people were wounded.

Reporting the attack, the US military in Washington said that U.S. and British warplanes were targeted by anti-aircraft guns in a northern "no-fly" zone of Iraq on Wednesday and struck air defense targets in response.

According to the sources, precision-guided bombs were used in the latest of a long series of tit-for-tat exchanges since the 1991 Gulf War.

U.S. and British warplanes have been enforcing no fly zones over northern and southern Iraq since shortly after the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq considers the zones to be illegal and has vowed to shoot down an American pilot.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri on Monday, June 17, 2002, talking in an open dialogue with the media in Baghdad about oil pricing policy and Iraqi relations with Britain, the U.S. and the United Nations. (AP Photo/Jassim Mohammed)