More Bombs Dropped On Iraq

U.S. warplanes on Tuesday bombed Iraqi air defense sites in the northern "no-fly" zone after being tracked by Iraqi radar, officials at the jets' base in southern Turkey said.

The spokesman said that U.S. F-15E warplanes "acting in self-defense" had hit several artillery sites around the Iraqi city of Mosul.

He said GBU-12 laser-guided bombs had struck several anti-aircraft batteries. All the U.S. aircraft had safely left northern Iraqi skies.

Such engagements in the "no-fly" zones have become a regular occurrence since the U.S. and Britain jointly launched "Operation Desert Fox," a 4-day air blitz in mid-December.

On Monday, U.S. fighter jets dropped laser-guided bombs on Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery sites in the northern "no-fly" zone. That attack followed similar incidents on Saturday, when U.S. jets struck three sites in Iraq's southern "no-fly" zone and five Iraqi anti-aircraft sites in the northern "no-fly" zone.

Strikes last week damaged an oil pipeline carrying crude from Iraq to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Oil pumping has since resumed, sparing Baghdad's U.N.-mandated oil-for-food lifeline, which supplies food, medicine and other humantarian goods to Iraq's population.

Since "Desert Fox," Baghdad has refused to tolerate Western flyovers of the "no-fly" zones, which it sees as sovereign territory.

The U.S and Britain have expanded the rules of engagement to include targets not posing an immediate threat in response to what officials describe as an increased threat to pilots' safety.

The "no-fly" zones were set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect rebel Kurds in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south.