Warplanes killed six civilians, says Iraq

IRAQ has claimed US and British warplanes killed six civilians and wounded another 15 in raids on Basra yesterday, but Washington said the jets struck military targets after coming under anti-aircraft fire.

An Iraqi military spokesman said the planes patrolling a “no-fly” zone in the south of the country entered Iraqi airspace at 9:45pm (18:45 GMT) on Sunday and later targeted civilian sites in the province of Basra.

In a statement on the state Iraqi News Agency, he said Iraqi anti-aircraft units fired at the planes, which returned to bases in Kuwait.

But the US military said the planes attacked five air defence targets early yesterday in response to anti-aircraft fire from the ground.

A British Defence Ministry spokeswoman said Britain would look into the Iraqi allegations. “This is one of the stronger allegations they have made so we are looking into it,” she said. “But the early indications are that these reports are probably not accurate.”

The strikes were the latest in an increasing number of western air attacks in no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq as the US and Britain build up a force for possible invasion of Iraq. More than 220,000 troops are now in the region.

The US Central Command said aircraft used precision-guided weapons to strike four fibre-optic communications centres near Al Kut, about 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, and a military command and control centre near Basra, about 245 miles southeast of Baghdad.

US Central Command said from its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, the targets were attacked after Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery.

The specific targets were struck because they enhanced Iraq’s integrated air defence network,” Navy Lt Cmdr Nick Balice, a spokesman for Central Command, said.

“Target damage assessment is ongoing,” he said of the strikes, adding all the warplanes had safely left the area.

The no-fly zones were set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south from Baghdad’s forces. Iraq does not recognise the zones.

US defence officials said at the weekend Washington had extended the targets being attacked by air patrols in no-fly zones to include weapons that could hinder a ground invasion.

Baghdad routinely describes the targets of the air raids as civilian, while U.S. and British military authorities say they attack only military targets and strive to avoid civilian casualties.