August 20, 2002
Western Planes Strike Air Defense Site in Iraq
By REUTERS


Filed at 10:17 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and British fighter jets bombed an air defense command and control facility about 120 miles southeast of Baghdad around 1:40 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

Central Command said the strikes against the Al Amarah facility came ``in response to recent Iraqi hostile acts against coalition aircraft monitoring the southern no-fly zone'' and were executed using precision-guided weapons.

It was the third Western raid against Iraqi targets within a week, following a strike against a mobile radar unit on Saturday and strikes by U.S. and British planes against targets in southern Iraq last Wednesday.

``Coalition strikes in the no-fly zones are executed as a self-defense measure in response to Iraqi hostile threats and acts against coalition forces and their aircraft,'' said Central Command, which heads U.S. military operations in the Gulf.

The U.S. military cited more than 110 separate incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery fire directed against coalition aircraft this year.

Central Command said coalition aircraft never targeted civilian populations or infrastructure.

Tuesday's raid was the 28th this year by U.S. and British warplanes in northern and southern ``no-fly zones'' of Iraq, set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from attack by Baghdad's forces.

The raids have increased in recent months amid threats from President Bush to oust President Saddam Hussein. Washington accused Baghdad of developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Iraq denied the charge.