US denies unmanned spy plane downed by Iraq

The US military has denied an Iraqi claim it had shot down an unmanned Predator spy plane.

The US military has denied an Iraqi claim it had shot down an unmanned Predator spy plane.

"We did not lose a Predator," said Lt. Daniel Hetlage, a Pentagon spokesman.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman was quoted by the official INA news agency as saying that Iraq's air defences "downed an American Predator spy plane coming from Kuwait."

US officials said last month that Iraq had downed a Predator, which Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, called a "lucky shot."

The Predator is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft that provides real-time surveillance data to US commanders and is armed with Hellfire missiles.

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