U.S. Bombs Iraq Again

U.S. airplanes struck two anti-aircraft artillery sites in Iraq on Saturday, the second night of bombing by Western aircraft, the Pentagon said.

The bombing came in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries that fired at U.S. and British planes on several occasions, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Pentagon said all planes returned safely and damage assessment was ongoing.

Saturday's raid followed bombing by U.S. and British planes on Friday night that Iraqi witnesses said had hit a civilian government warehouse in southern Iraq, killing two civilians and wounding 19.

U.S. and British planes patrol no-fly zones over southern and northern Iraq set up after the 1991 Gulf War.

The zones, which Baghdad does not recognize, were imposed to protect a Kurdish enclave in the north and Shiite Moslems in the south from possible attacks by Iraqi government forces.

Bombings occur with some frequency. In June, Iraq claimed a bombing raid on a missile battery killed a civilian woman. It was one of several raids that month.

Iraq says the airstrikes have killed some 300 citizens and injured 890 others. The allies dispute these figures.

The bombings come after the tenth anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which triggered the U.S.-led, United Nations-approved operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Some marked the anniversary by protesting the sanctions put in place after the 1991 Gulf War.

In related news, a second world leader has announced he plans to ignore the international taboo on travel to Iraq.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said he would travel to Baghdad, and called for sanctions to be lifted, after meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who toured Iraq this week.