Iraq is claiming a US-British air strike in southern Iraq has injured four people.
The US Defense Department today reported US planes attacked anti-aircraft guns and missile sites in southern Iraq for the fourth time in 11 days in a campaign to disable Baghdad's aggressive air defenses.
The strikes with precision-guided munitions were in response to recent Iraqi threats against (US and British) coalition aircraft patrolling the zone, a Pentagon spokesman said
This evening the Iraqis claimed the warplanes targeted some civil and military installations in Al-Muthana province and that four people were injured.
US Navy F-18 jets based on the aircraft carrier Enterprise in the Gulf and Air Force F16 warplanes based near southern Iraq conducted the raids, according to US defense officials.
The US military's Central Command in Tampa, Florida, which is responsible for operations in the Gulf, said this afternoon damage from the raids was being assessed.
Three other attacks, some also involving British aircraft, have been conducted against air defense targets in southern Iraq since August 25th in response to increasing attempts by Iraqi President Mr Saddam Hussein's military to shoot down planes patrolling no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq for a decade.
PA and