DJ WRAP: US Warplanes Bomb Missile Systems In Iraq
02/25/2003
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
WASHINGTON (AP)--U.S. warplanes bombed surface-to-surface missile systems in northern Iraq and surface-to-air missiles in southern Iraq Tuesday, the U.S. military said.
The strikes in both the northern and southern no-fly zones came after Iraq moved the missile systems into the no-fly zones, threatening coalition forces, military officials said.
In the north, U.S. jets used precision-guided weapons to attack three surface-to-surface missile systems just south of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, according to a statement from U.S. European Command. The statement said the missiles were in range to threaten coalition forces, which are based in Turkey. Mosul is about 70 miles from Iraq's border with Turkey.
The northern strike targeted mobile missile launchers known as "transporter-erector-launcher" vehicles, Pentagon officials said. Iraq is believed to have used similar mobile launchers to fire the dozens of Scud missiles it launched against Israel and Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War.
All the planes involved in the northern strike returned safely to their base at Incirlik, Turkey, the European Command statement said.
In the south, American warplanes attacked a mobile surface-to-air missile system near Basra, which is 245 miles southeast of Baghdad and about 35 miles from the border with Kuwait, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The southern strike happened at about 1155 GMT.
U.S. and U.K. planes have been enforcing a no-fly zone north of the 36th parallel since the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. U.S. planes enforce a similar no-fly zone south of the 33rd parallel. The zones are meant to keep Saddam Hussein's military from attacking opposition Kurdish forces in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south.
The last U.S. airstrike in northern Iraq occurred Jan. 31, when U.S. jets struck Iraqi antiaircraft artillery. Strikes in the south have been more frequent, with the latest coming Sunday when U.S. planes attacked six air defense communications sites.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-25-03 1354ET |
