US, British Air Attacks Injure Seven: SpokesmanThe United States and British warplanes bombed southern Iraq Sunday and injured seven civilians, an Iraqi military spokesman said Sunday evening.In a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA), the spokesman said that at 7:50 (0450 GMT) and 15:10 (1210 GMT) local time, the US and British bombed civilian targets inside the southern provinces of Basra, Misan, Thi-Qar, Qadissiyah, Wasit, Muthana and Najaf, and led to the injury of seven. One was in the Misan Province and six in Basra, including a four-year-old boy. The raids also damaged 17 civilian houses and parts of a high-tension wire network, the spokesman said. Iraqi anti-aircraft opened fire at the invading planes and forced them to flee to their bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait,the spokesman added. The US and Britain have carried out a total of 29,377 armed sorties over southern and northern Iraq since they launched large- scale armed strikes against Iraq in December 1998, the spokesman concluded. US and British planes have been enforcing the two no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq since after the 1991 Gulf War to protect the Shiite Muslims in the south and Kurds in the north from the forces of President Saddam Hussein. Iraq, who does not recognize the zones, has challenged the planes since December 1998 by targeting the aircraft with surface- to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |