Eight reported dead after air strikes on Iraq

It is reported that British and US warplanes have killed eight civilians in a strike on southern Iraq.

The US military said its planes attacked missile sites in the south of the country in response to Iraqi threats against American and British aircraft patrolling no fly zones over Iraq.

An Iraqi news agency said: “The US-British warplanes targeted our citizens in al-Salhiya in Wasit province, resulting in the killing of eight civilians and the wounding of three others.” The Pentagon has given no word of any casualties.

Witnesses said the civilians were preparing for prayers when attacked by the warplanes.

The US central command claims to have struck two or more surface to air missile sites, but Iraqi sources say the planes hit properties and shops in the Wasit province, about 100 miles south of Baghdad.

US and British warplanes have been patrolling the no fly zones since they were set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurdish rebels in the north and Shiite Muslim rebels in the south from Government forces.

Iraq has contested the zones since 1998 as it considers them illegal.