US and UK 'bomb Iraq'

The Iraqi government says US and British warplanes have bombed targets in southern Iraq, causing no casualties.

The Iraqi News Agency gas quoted an Iraqi military spokesman as saying the planes attacked "civilian installations" before they were chased away by Iraqi air-defences.

There has been no comment from US or British officials.

INA says the planes flew over the southern provinces of Basra, Dhiqar, Muthanna, Qadissiya and Wassit. It has not stated where the reported attack took place.

US and British planes regularly patrol the skies over southern and northern Iraq to enforce "no fly" zones meant to prevent Iraqi forces from attacking Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south.

Iraq does not recognise the zones and has been challenging the US and British patrols by locking air defense radar on allied planes since 1998.

The last major strike was on February 16, when the United States and Britain sent two dozen jets to attack air defence sites around Baghdad, saying Iraq had been improving its ability to target - and potentially shoot down - their pilots.

On March 30, a US warplane attacked an anti-artillery site near the city of As Samawah on the Euphrates River in southern Iraq.