US, British planes hit civilian sites in Iraq

Bagdhad, Dec 15: British and US warplanes struck civilian sites in southern Iraq on Saturday, the official INA agency quoted an Iraqi military spokesman as saying.
"Enemy warplanes bombed civilian installations in the Wasset, Missan and Zi Qar provinces before fleeing towards their bases in Kuwait under anti-aircraft and missile fire," the spokesman said.

In Washington, the US Central Command said US and British planes patrolling southern no-fly zones had struck three military targets after its aircraft were threatened.

Iraq does not recognise the northern and southern air exclusion zones, which have been enforced since the end of the 1991 Gulf War without being explicitly sanctioned by any UN resolution.

It has also accused the US administration of seeking to use Security Council Resolution 1441, under which arms inspections resumed in Iraq last week, as a cover for attack by claiming that Iraqi firing on coalition aircraft might put Baghdad in material breach of the resolution. Bureau Report