US and British warplanes attack Iraqi installation

US and British warplanes attacked a ”civilian and services installation” in northern Iraq today, killing one civilian, the official Iraqi News Agency claimed.

An unnamed military spokesman said the attack in Nineveh province, 250 miles north of Baghdad, took place at 11:05am (8.05 Irish time).

The agency said Iraqi air defence units fired at the attacking planes, forcing them to leave the area and return to their bases in Turkey.

It said American and British warplanes taking off from bases in Kuwait conducted 55 sorties over southern Iraq.

The no-fly zones were set up in the past decade to protect Kurds in the north and Shiites Muslims in the south from Iraqi government forces. Iraq does not recognise the zones and routinely challenges the US and British aircraft patrolling them.