The US Central Command said Western warplanes yesterday struck an Iraqi military radar system in the "no-fly zone" south of Baghdad.
"In response to Iraqi hostile acts against coalition aircraft monitoring the southern no-fly zone, Operation Southern Watch coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons today to strike a military mobile radar near Al Kut," the Tampa, Florida-based military command said in a statement posted on its Website today.
The statement said the strike came at 5 p.m. (10 p.m. Irish time) after Iraq placed a military mobile radar south of the 33rd parallel and flew military aircraft into the southern no-fly zone. The US military was conducting a damage assessment, the statement said.
The last coalition strike in the southern no-fly zone was on September 28th and targeted a military mobile radar near Al Basrah, the US military said.
US and British jets enforce two "no-fly zones" in northern and southern Iraq set up after the 1991 Gulf War.