Coalition Warplanes Hit Iraqi Air Defenses

In the first such clash in a week, U.S. and British warplanes struck several Iraqi air-defense sites Wednesday after three waves of Iraqi fighters violated the southern “no-fly” zone, U.S. military officials said.

Iraqi planes and antiaircraft missile batteries did not target the Western jets, but U.S. and British pilots fired on the air-defense systems to remove a potential danger, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ernest Duplessis, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Florida.

“Any time we have a violation of the no-fly zone, that is a threat,” Duplessis said.

Coalition aircraft included more than half a dozen U.S. Air Force F-15E fighters and A-10 jets with enough firepower to take out tanks, as well as several British GR-1 Tornado fighter-bombers. All returned safely to base after separate attacks over the course of about eight hours, the Pentagon said.

The official Iraqi News Agency reported that the strikes killed a civilian and injured others. U.S. officials said a damage assessment had not been completed.

The Western warplanes used precision-guided missiles and 500- and 1,000-pound bombs--although U.S. officials didn’t say how many--to hit surface-to-air missile batteries, radar sites and a communications tower, U.S. defense officials said.

The incidents occurred near Talil, about 170 miles southeast of Baghdad, and near An Najaf, about 100 miles south of the capital.

In the three separate violations, pairs of Russian-made MIG-23 or MIG-25 jets entered about 60 miles into the no-fly zone but turned tail when confronted, the Pentagon said.

Western planes have hit about 40 air-defense sites in response to more than 80 violations of the flight-denial zones, set up after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to protect Iraqi minority groups and rebels.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein began challenging the no-fly zones after U.S. and British airstrikes against his weapons facilities and command and control centers in mid-December.