United States or British warplanes bombed a radar system in the southern area of Iraq early Friday after three surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) were fired at coalition aircraft patrolling a no-fly zone, the US military said.
"SAMs were fired at them and they responded immediately," said Lieutenant Commander Frank Merriman, a spokesman in Tampa, Florida with the United States Central Command.
Merriman conveyed the air strike targeted a radar system near An Nasiriyah southeast of Baghdad, that was on an approved target list.
The radar was bombed with precision guided weapons, the command added, according to AFP.
It was the latest in a series of strikes against Iraqi air defenses in both southern and northern Iraq.
The strikes are usually carried out by US warplanes based on aircraft carriers in the Gulf or land bases in the region.
However, US military spokesmen have adopted a policy of not saying whether the attacking aircraft were US or British, which also patrol the no-fly zones.
Baghdad has actively challenged the no-fly zones since December 1998, but the pace of activity has picked up in recent weeks from a lull that followed the September 11 attacks. (Albawaba.com)
