US and British aircraft struck an anti-aircraft position in Iraq's southern no-fly zone on Saturday, the US Central Command in the region announced.
A statement from the Central Command said the strike was in response to "hostile acts against coalition aircraft."
Damage assessment is ongoing, the statement said, cited by CNN.
A spokesman for Iraqi Air Defense Command said Iraq's missile force and anti-aircraft guns drove the planes out of the disputed airspace and back to their bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported, cited by CNN.
All coalition aircraft returned safely to their base aboard the USS Constellation in the Arabian Gulf, said Lt. Col. Rick Thomas of the US Central Command.
The last strike by US and British forces in the southern no-fly zone was also against an Iraqi anti-aircraft position on June 26.
According to the news service, there have been more than 900 separate incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft fire directed at aircraft since December 1998, including more than 275 in this calendar year - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
