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thedrifter
02-12-03, 08:33 AM
Tue Feb 11, 6:47 PM ET
By Charles Aldinger and Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aircraft taking part in U.S.-British patrols attacked a battlefield missile system in southern Iraq on Tuesday in an unusual response to Iraqi threats against the air patrols, the U.S. military said.


U.S. defense officials, who asked not to be identified, said the strike, which took place at about 7 p.m. in Iraq, destroyed at least one truck-borne Ababil-100 surface-to-surface missile, its launcher and support vehicles in the southern "no-fly" zone near Basra.


The launcher is capable of quickly firing four of the rockets, which can each carry explosive warheads or up to 25 anti-tank "bomblets" and have a battlefield range of 80 to 90 miles.


The air strike came as U.S. and British forces massed in the Gulf region for a possible invasion of Iraq.


U.S. and British jets have been increasingly attacking Iraqi air defense missiles, radars and communications for months. But strikes against surface tactical missiles are rare.


The U.S. military's Central Command, based in Tampa, Florida, said the attack was in response to threats against air patrols over the zone and because Baghdad had violated U.N. orders by moving such a weapon close to its border with neighbors.


RARE ATTACK ON BATTLEFIELD MISSILES


Marine Corps Maj. Brad Lowell, a Central Command spokesman, noted that aircraft last attacked a surface-to-ship missile system near Basra on Sept. 6 of last year.


Iraq launched dozens of Scud missiles at Israel, Saudi Arabia and other neighboring states in the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) and both Pentagon (news - web sites) officials and private analysts have expressed fear that such attacks might be repeated if the United States leads a new invasion against Iraq.


The Central Command announcement said only that the jets used precision guided weapons "to target an Iraqi military surface-to-surface missile system" near Basra, about 245 miles southeast of the capital, Baghdad.


Lowell said all aircraft departed the area safely and target damage was being studied.


The announcement also said the attack was launched because Iraq had violated U.N. Security Council Resolution 949, which forbids Baghdad from introducing military enhancements in southern Iraq to threaten its neighbors.


The military said it was the third attack in four days by Western warplanes against military targets in the southern "no-fly" zone and it came as the United States and Britain build a large military force in the Gulf region for a possible war with Iraq.


In Baghdad on Monday, the Iraqi military said two civilians were killed and nine injured when U.S. and British planes attacked civilian facilities in Basra province. U.S. defense officials denied that any civilian target had been attacked.


Sempers,

Roger