U2 flights over Iraq halted after two spyplanes used simultaneously

UN arms inspectors yesterday said they had withdrawn two U-2 reconnaissance planes over Iraq for safety reasons after Baghdad complained both aircraft were in the air simultaneously.

Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission, said he was unaware if the Iraqi air force had tried to intercept the planes.

But a US official said Iraq “informed us when the planes were in the air that only one was acceptable and the second would be viewed as ‘hostile.’”