Home -
Yahoo! - My Yahoo! - News Alerts - Help
Friday July 16 1:51 PM ET
Iraq Says Western Planes Attacked Sites In North
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said Western warplanes attacked
sites in northern Iraq Friday before
anti-aircraft defenses forced them return to their bases
in Turkey.
The U.S. Air Force's European Command said U.S. planes bombed a
communications site near the northern Iraqi city of
Mosul Friday after being fired on by Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery.
``Nine hostile formations ... flew over regions in the provinces of Duhok,
Arbil and Ninevah and the enemy attacked civil and
service installations in the said provinces,'' the Iraqi News Agency quoted
a military spokesman as saying.
``Our brave ground resistance forces intercepted them and forced them to
leave our airspace to the bases of aggression in
Turkey,'' the spokesman said.
Such attacks are not uncommon in the no-fly zone imposed by U.S. and allied
aircraft over northern Iraq.
The attacks on the site southeast of Mosul took place between 11 a.m. and
12:30 p.m. Iraqi time (3 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. EDT),
the German-based command told Reuters. It said all aircraft charged with
monitoring the no-fly zone over northern Iraq left
the area safely.
It added that the extent of damage caused by the F-16 jets, which dropped
laser-guided bombs on the target, was still being
assessed.
The Iraqi spokesman also said other planes flew over the southern provinces
of Basra, Meisan, Dhi Qar and Muthanna
without reporting any incident.
Friday, Iraq urged the Arab League to press Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to stop
allowing U.S. and British aircraft from using
their airbases to patrol a no-fly zone over the south of the country.
In a dispatch from Cairo, INA said Iraq's representative at the Arab
League, Sultan al-Shawi, had submitted a memorandum
to Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid, criticizing Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia.
Shawi told Meguid that U.S. and British warplanes based in Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia had carried out 288 sorties between
July 1 and July 8.
Western air strikes on Iraq have become regular since Baghdad decided last
year to challenge U.S. and British jets patrolling
northern and southern no-fly zones set up by Western powers after the 1991
Gulf War.
The zones, which Baghdad does not recognize, were imposed to protect
minority groups from attack by Iraqi forces.
