Washington - US war planes hit two air defence targets in southern Iraq yesterday in an effort to degrade Iraq's capability in shooting down American and British warplanes, officials said.
Mr Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, gave no immediate details of the attack, but said it was not in direct retaliation for Baghdad's claim on Monday that its air defences had shot down an unmanned US military reconnaissance plane in southern Iraq.
"We have always said that we retain the right to respond to continuing attacks on coalition (US and British) aircraft at a time and place of our choosing," Mr Whitman said.
US defence officials said fewer than a dozen aircraft, including attack and support planes, took part in the raid and all returned safely to their bases.