President Saddam Hussein vowed revenge yesterday for the deadly US attacks on southern Iraq, but US warplanes pursued their offensive for the fourth consecutive day by bombing more missile sites.
In Washington, military sources reported five new incidents between US fighters and Iraqi antiaircraft defences in the northern no-fly zone. No US warplanes were damaged, the Pentagon said after a leading US commander accused Iraq of an all-out effort to down a US plane.
US pilots enforcing the zones have been operating under expanded rules of engagement since last month, the national security adviser, Mr Sandy Berger, announced. The military now considers the entire Iraqi air defence system, not just the sources of specific attacks, as a legitimate target for response to violations of the no-fly zone, Mr Berger said.
From Incirlik air base in Turkey, Operation Northern Watch command, which enforces the northern no-fly zone, detailed three of the clashes near Mosul.
An anti-radar missile was fired at an Iraqi radar site, a 500-lb bomb was dropped on an anti-aircraft artillery system "which posed a threat" and a fighter fired at a radar site which had targeted coalition aircraft.
"Your blood will not have been spilt in vain. Your blood will give flower to the tree of freedom, resistance and victory," President Saddam said. He hailed the people of Basra for their "valiant resistance to the aggression of the unbelievers" and predicted victory.
The Basra region was the target of several US missile attacks on Monday in which at least 11 civilians were killed and 59 wounded, according to Iraqi authorities.
The Pentagon acknowledged yesterday that a stray US missile exploded in a residential neighbourhood in the southern Iraqi city of Basra during US air strikes on Monday.
"We have analysed yesterday's information and found that an AGM-130 did miss its target and explode in a residential neighbourhood several kilometres away from its target," Pentagon spokesman Mr Kenneth Bacon said.
In Cairo, the Arab League voiced regret over the loss of civilian life in southern Iraq and urged the US to stop the attacks.
On the diplomatic front, the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, urged President Yeltsin to agree to disagree over mounting foreign policy disputes so as not to jeopardise relations. But Mr Yeltsin refused to give ground on the row over US air strikes on Iraq, calling such acts of force "unacceptable" and pressing Washington to consult foreign powers over future steps.
"Any acts of force, particularly those which circumvent the UN Security Council are unacceptable," Mr Yeltsin told Ms Albright during a 25-minute telephone conversation on the second day of her three-day trip to Moscow.
The Baghdad government daily, Al-Jumhuriya, issued a warning to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait over the US attacks and underlined that Iraq would continue to challenge the "no-fly" zones enforced by Washington and London over northern and southern Iraq.
Edmund Blair adds:
Iraqis mourned their dead at a small village south of Basra, one day after five missiles fired by US warplanes hit the south of the country. Men in Abu Fullous gathered in tents set up on the muddy streets, while women chanted in houses after six women and children were killed when a missile struck the small village, 25 km south of Basra.
"Every Iraqi detests America and Britain and the aggression," said Mr Abdul-Razzak Jassim, a 50-year-old villager who lost his two-year-old daughter Naseemah.
"This is a civilian area. What does it have to do with air defences?", said Brigadier Talal Abdul-Wahhab, a local official.