Another Skirmish Over Iraq

Allied planes struck civil and military targets in southern Iraq Sunday, killing two people and wounding nine others, the Iraqi military reported.

The U.S. Central Command confirmed that American planes had attacked Iraqi missile batteries 100 miles south of Baghdad, but gave no word of casualties.

The attacks were in retaliation for anti-aircraft fire and a surface-to-air missile attack on "coalition aircraft," the Central Command said in a statement from its headquarters in Florida.

In Baghdad, the Iraqi air defense command said allied aircraft had bombed "civil installations and weapons positions."

Two Iraqis were killed and nine others were wounded in the attack, including two women from the province of Qadissiya, the official Iraqi News Agency quoted the command as saying. Qadissiya is 125 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Iraq did not identify the nationality of the planes, but listed the types of aircraft used by the American and British air forces to patrol the southern "no-fly" zone. The zone was set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect rebels from Iraqi government aircraft.

"Our air defense units confronted the enemy warplanes, forcing them to flee back towards Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," the Iraqi statement said.