BAGHDAD, January 24 (Xinhuanet) -- An Iraqi military spokesman said
on Thursday that U.S.-British warplanes bombed targets in southern
Iraq on Wednesday and Thursday, without mentioning if there were
any casualties.
In a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA),
the spokesman said that on both occasions, the U.S.-British planes
crossed into Iraqi airspace from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and
bombed "civil and service installations" in the southern provinces
of Basra and Thi-Qar.
The hostile planes were confronted by Iraq's anti-aircraft
artillery and were forced to flee to their bases in Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait, the spokesman added.
Basra and Thi-Qar are located inside the so-called no-fly zone
in southern Iraq, set up by the U.S.-led Western allies after the
1991 Gulf War with the claimed aim of protecting the Shiite Muslims
from the forces of President Saddam Hussein.
A similar air-exclusion zone was also established in northern
Iraq to allegedly protect the Kurdish people there.
Iraq does not recognize the two no-fly zones and has regularly
fired at the U.S.-British planes monitoring them.
There has been an apparent letup of air raids by the U.S.-
British planes on the two no-fly zones after the September 11
terror attacks in the U.S. last year. Enditem
