Baghdad, Feb 17: US and British warplanes bombed "civilian installations" in the southern province of Zi-Qar, triggering retaliatory fire, an Iraqi air defense spokesman said today. "The enemy attacked our civilian and service installations in the province of Zi-Qar" in southeastern Iraq, said the spokesman, quoted by the official Ina news agency.

"Our heroic forces ... Confronted them (US and British aircraft), forcing them to leave our airspace toward their bases in Kuwait" after their bombing mission, he said. The spokesman said the warplanes overflew a number of regions in the southern part of the country, including the main cities of Basra, Karbala, Najaf and Kut.

US and British warplanes bombed "civilian installations" in Basra yesterday, according to an Iraqi air defense spokesman.

Iraq regularly accuses US and British warplanes enforcing "no-fly" zones in the north and south of the country of bombing civilian targets, but Washington and London say they only hit military installations. Baghdad does not recognize the air exclusion zones, which are not sanctioned by any UN resolution.

Bureau Report