World

Another Clash Above Iraq

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 23, 1999 / 12:34 PM EST / CBS

U.S. jets fired three missiles at an Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery site in the no-fly zone over northern Iraq Thursday, the Air Force said.

The aircraft fired in self-defense, said a spokeswoman at the joint Turkish-U.S. Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.

On Tuesday, the fourth consecutive day of clashes with Iraqi air defense installations, U.S. warplanes attacked five sites in northern Iraq.

A day before Tuesday's attacks, a stray U.S. missile apparently struck a neighborhood in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Iraqi officials on Monday said 11 people were killed in the attack, but the death toll was raised to 18 on Thursday.

In a televised address to residents of Basra Tuesday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein promised the attack would be avenged.

Lt. Col. Jane Rinell said two U.S. F-15 fighters were targeted by the anti-aircraft artillery site north of the city of Mosul. The jets responded by firing three precision-guided bombs at the battery.

The incident took place at about 7:45 a.m. EST. The aircraft returned safely to the base. "Damage to the Iraqi missile site is currently being assessed," said Rinell.

A U.S.-British force operating out of Incirlik has patrolled the skies of Iraq north of the 36th parallel since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War to protect the local Kurdish population from attack by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces.

The Incirlik base was briefly put on alert Thursday after warnings that a missile had been fired from Iraq. However, there was no missile impact and no patriot missiles were launched.

The Clinton administration has adopted a more aggressive policy in dealing with increased no-fly violations by Iraq. The rules of engagement for U.S. pilots have been broadened in an effort to protect them from stepped up anti-aircraft attacks.

The region around Mosul, where Thursday's air clash took place, is controlled by the Iraqi government. It is outside the territory run by the Iraqi Kurds, who split from Baghdad after the war.