American and British warplanes have attacked Iraqi air defence systems in the north of the country for the second time this week.

A statement from the United States military said the planes had bombed Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries which had opened fire on a patrol.

The statement gave no information about any damage or casualties.

Iraq claimed the planes had bombed civilian targets.

Meanwhile, a US intelligence chief the Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet has told a senate committee in Washington that he was concerned that Iraq is rebuilding weapons destroyed by air strikes in 1998.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service