From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqis were jubilant Monday over Iraq's claim it had
shot down a U.S. reconnaissance plane, and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz
pledged that his country would inflict more losses on U.S. and British
forces.
"God willing we will shoot down more planes," supermarket owner Mohanad
Mekki said. "[Americans] won't dare send us more planes because they know
we'll shoot them down."
The state-run Iraqi News Agency said the aircraft was shot down in the
morning near the southern city of Basra, 340 miles south of Baghdad. The
plane, according to INA, contained "high-tech equipment" and was "inside
Iraqi skies on a spy mission."
State-run television showed footage of what it claimed was the downed
aircraft reduced to twisted piles of scorched wreckage. Pieces of equipment
were scattered around in a desert area. "U.S. Navy Prop" was written on one
part of the aircraft.
In Washington, two U.S. defense officials told The Associated Press that
a Predator unmanned aircraft was missing and believed lost on a mission near
Basra.
"This admission, that Iraq forced U.S. officials to make, comes despite
their arrogance . . . and conceit over the advanced, destructive technology
that they own and use every day against Iraq and its patient people," INA
said.
Aziz said his country "is determined to inflict more losses on the U.S.
and British aggressors and to develop its capabilities despite the unjust
embargo imposed on it," INA reported.
On the streets of Baghdad people expressed pride at what their military
had done.
"This shows we can confront their [allied] planes if they come into
Iraq," Adel Jassim, a store owner, said. "All Arabs should be happy when
they
see that despite all the power Americans have we can still confront their
aggression."
Less than two hours after the aircraft was allegedly shot down, U.S. and
British warplanes flying from bases in Turkey attacked Iraqi "civil and
service installations," killing one civilian and injuring three others, an
unidentified Iraqi military spokesman told INA.
He did not say where the attack took place, but a U.S. official said
U.S.
planes attacked a SA-3 surface-to-air missile site in northern Iraq.
Iraq long has tried to shoot down an American plane, but until Monday,
the United States always had flatly denied any of its aircraft had been hit.
It had, however, acknowledged an increasing number of close calls. Iraq had
never produced evidence to counter the American denials.
In 1998, President Saddam Hussein offered a prize of $5,000 to the Iraqi
military unit that shoots down an allied warplane and $2,500 for the capture
of a U.S. or British pilot.
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