Iraq charged U.S. and British warplanes bombed civilian areas yesterday, demolishing 17 houses and wounding seven people – but the United States said the planes hit military targets.
The Iraqi state news agency said bombs hit houses and other buildings in Basra and Maisan, in the southern part of the country, injuring four men, two women and a 4-year-old child.
“Our heroic missile units confronted the enemy warplanes, forcing them to leave our skies,” an unnamed military spokesman was quoted as saying.
The U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., told The Associated Press that American and British planes struck anti-aircraft artillery sites after they had been targeted with anti-aircraft fire.
Allied aircraft patrol no-fly zones established after the 1991 Gulf War.