US warplanes attack Iraqi defences

US and British warplanes bombed air defence systems in northern Iraq today in response to anti-aircraft fire within the no-fly zone.

The bombs were dropped after Iraqi forces east of Mosul fired on a routine air patrol, said the US European Command in Stuttgart, Germany.

"All coalition aircraft departed the area safely", the statement said.

It was the first bombing of northern Iraq since February and the third this year and came amid intense debate on whether Iraq will be the next target in what the US administration is calling a war against terrorism.

US and British planes based in southeast Turkey have been flying patrols over northern Iraq since 1991. France, initially part of the operation, withdrew in 1996.

The two countries say the patrols are designed to protect the Kurdish population of northern Iraq from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.