Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said his country's troops have shot down an unspecified American airplane over a Baghdad suburb.
"Today, in coming from Baghdad, we heard explosions in one of the suburbs of the city, we looked at the sky and a US airplane was falling," Sabri told Syrian television.
He said the plane was shot down by an "Iraqi missile" over the city's Abi Ghreib suburb.
Sabri called on Arab governments to "confront" the US-led war, which he said threatened all Arab countries, as he arrived in the Syrian capital early Sunday.
"We hope that our Arab brethren will defend themselves and stand against the Zionist-American-British aggression which is targeted at all Arab countries to turn them into weak statelets ruled by [Israeli Prime Minister] Sharon," said Sabri, the first Iraqi government official to leave Iraq since the start of the US-led attack on Thursday.
The Pentagon said it had no knowledge of any US aircraft being shot down. Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan said he had no "information that this is accurate...All our aircraft are accounted for."
Sabri warned Turkey against supporting a U.S.-led war against Baghdad, vowing "multiple harm" for Iraq's enemies.
"We hope that our Turk neighbors would realize their true interest...Who seeks to harm Iraq, multiple harm would be inflicted on him," Sabri told reporters on arriving in Damascus, en route to an Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo. (Albawaba.com)
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