U.S., British Warplanes Strike Iraq

U.S. and British warplanes struck targets in southern Iraq on Friday, and Baghdad said the attack killed one person and injured two others.

The U.S. Central Command headquarters said in a statement that the warplanes, patrolling the no-fly zone in southern Iraq, attacked a radar system and anti-aircraft sites with precision-guided weapons.

The command, based in Tampa, Fla., had no report of casualties and still was assessing the damage. "We go to great lengths to avoid injuries," said Maj. Jeff Blau at MacDill Air Force Base.

An Iraqi military spokesman said the warplanes struck "civil and service installations in the provinces of Basra and Nasiriya, resulting in the killing of one civilian and the injury of two others," according to the Iraqi News Agency.

"Our heroic (anti-aircraft) missile units confronted the enemy warplanes, forcing them to leave our skies for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait," the unidentified spokesman said. The report did not say where the casualties occurred.

Basra is 340 miles south of Baghdad and Nasiriya is 248 miles south of the capital.

The U.S. Central Command said the sites "were targeted to further degrade Iraq's ability to jeopardize coalition pilots and aircraft."

U.S. and British jets have been patrolling no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq in a program designed to protect Kurdish and Shiite groups against government forces. Baghdad has been challenging the planes since late 1998, saying the zones violate its sovereignty and international law.

By Waiel Faleh