New strikes on Iraq 'kill five'

US and British planes patrol no-fly zones over Iraq

Iraq says five people were killed and 17 injured when American and British planes bombed a residential area some 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Baghdad.

A neighbourhood in Al-Diwaniya city came under attack on Thursday evening, according to an Iraqi military spokesman.

American defence officials confirmed that an attack took place, but said an Iraqi military communications site had been targeted and destroyed.

American and British planes routinely patrol the air exclusion zones in northern and southern Iraq.

An Iraqi spokesman said that in the latest incident the planes flew in from Kuwait.

He said the aircraft staged "armed sorties" over 11 other towns in southern Iraq before being "forced to flee back to their bases" by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire.

'Precision-guided'

US central command said the strikes came in response to continued Iraqi hostile actions.

The planes used precision-guided weapons to destroy the site, it added.

The no-fly zones were imposed by the US, Britain and France after the Gulf War, in what was described as a humanitarian effort to protect both the Kurds in the north and the Shia Muslims in the south.

The zones were not authorised by the UN and are not specifically sanctioned by any Security Council resolution.

Iraq considers them a violation of its sovereignty.

Last weekend, US and British aircraft struck twice in Iraq, in attacks which Baghdad says left one civilian dead and six others injured.