Iraq Says Forced Landing of Spy Drone Poses Shock for US

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 29, 2002

Iraq Says Forced Landing of Spy Drone Poses Shock for US

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Iraq's success in forcing an unmanned spy plane to land in Iraqi territories was considered as a "shock" for the U.S., an unidentified "strategic analyst" told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Wednesday.

"Iraq's success in controlling the U.S. spy plane and making it land with accurate control system is considered as a shock for the U.S. military strategy," the analyst was quoted as saying.

The analyst hailed Iraq's ability of developing "sophisticated techniques" in a way that "they are able to control such kind of planes which the U.S. views as one of its developed military secrets," the INA said.

The State-run Iraq TV has shown footage of the "enemy" spy planewhich was forced by Iraq's air defense system to land in northern Iraq on Sunday morning.

The video showed the small, white plane landing in an undisclosed location with a camera underneath its fuselage. However, the plane bore no characters showing its identity.

No country has so far claimed that it is the owner of the spy plane.

An Iraqi military spokesman said on Monday that the plane, whichflew into northern Iraq on a spy mission, "was monitored by our airdefense system, controlled by our special devices and forced to land in our territory."

Iraq claimed that it shot down three U.S. drones monitoring the two no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq last year.

The two no-fly zones were set up by the U.S.-led Western allies after the 1991 Gulf War with the alleged aim of protecting the Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south from the persecution of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Iraq has never recognized the two air exclusion zones for lack of clear authorization from the United Nations Security Council andhas regularly opened fire at the patrolling Western planes.

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