Washington, July 20: Warplanes from the US-British coalition patrolling the no-fly zone in southern Iraq bombed an Iraqi communications facility, the US military said. The planes used precision-guided weapons to destroy the military communications site in southern Iraq yesterday, a statement from US Central command said. The strikes came in response to continued Iraqi hostile actions toward coalition airplanes, it said. The official Iraqi news agency claimed five civilians were killed and 17 injured by a coalition airstrike in the southern Iraqi province of Qadissiya.
The claim could not be independently verified.

US military officials say they take great care to avoid civilians when making retaliatory strikes in Iraq.
Air Force Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa Jr. said on Monday that Iraq had recently increased its challenges to coalition aircraft in the northern and southern no-fly zones. The two zones were created after the 1991 gulf war to protect Kurds and minority Shiite Muslims from Iraqi military forces.

Iraq has never recognized the no-fly zones and frequently tries to shoot the coalition planes down.

Bureau Report