US and British warplanes have attacked Iraqi air defences in the northern no-fly zone. The news follows the official admission that bombs dropped in last week's mission failed to hit their target.
The raids, which the US European Command said were launched in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire near Mosul, were launched from Turkey and all planes involved in the operation returned safely, the European Command said.
US and British jets, which have repeatedly attacked sites in no-fly zones of northern and southern Iraq over the past decade, last Friday targeted 25 air defence targets outside the southern zone near Baghdad in an effort to disrupt the effectiveness of improving Iraqi defenses.
But Pentagon and Navy officials today said fewer than half of US smart bombs launched from distance struck their targets in that raid.
Officials said most of the misses were by Navy precision-guided bombs dropped by F/A18 jets from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Trumanin the Gulf. The AGM154A Joint Standoff Bombs are dropped from up to 50 miles (80 kilometres) away and glide to their targets using satellite guidance from space.
The officials said the misses were apparently due to software problems or possible damage to bombs before or when they were loaded onto attack jets.
The United States and Britain - the only members of the 1991 Gulf War alliance still militarily engaged against Iraq - came under heavy criticism for last week's attacks and are now trying to develop new policies in relation to sanctions on Iraq.
Reuters