Allies Hit Iraq Military Facility

WASHINGTON —  Allied aircraft bombed a military facility southwest of Baghdad on Thursday after Iraqi forces attacked one of their patrols in the “no-fly” zone, defense officials said.

It was the 35th airstrike reported this year by the U.S. and British coalition put together in 1991 to patrol zones in the north and south of Iraq.

In Thursday’s strike, coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons to hit an air defense command-and-control facility at a military airfield 240 miles from Baghdad, the U.S. Central Command said.

The strikes come as the Bush administration steps up efforts to persuade the world of the need to overthrow Hussein and as Iraq wages a campaign to rally the world against such a move. But attacks and counterattacks in the no-fly zones have been going on for several years. The numbers ebb and flow, and the Pentagon says there is no particular increase now.