Iraq 'bombing' denied

British and US planes regularly patrol no-fly zones in Iraq

The UK Government has denied reports that the United States and UK warplanes dropped bombs killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding two others.

The Ministry of Defence says its planes were fired on by Iraqi forces as they patrolled a no-fly zone over the country on Saturday.

The RAF pilots who were patrolling in the southern part of Iraq, did not return fire, said the MoD.

But an Iraqi military spokesman said the US and British aircraft had targeted military and civilian installations in Najaf province, 160 km south of Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The air dispute coincided with the 64th birthday celebrations for Iraq leader Saddam Hussein.

The official Iraqi news agency reported that civilians were hit.

The agency quoted a military spokesman who said: "While people were celebrating President Saddam Hussein's birthday, the evil aggressors committed another crime to be added to the list of their crimes against our people."

The RAF and US regularly patrol no-fly zones created in the 1990s to protect Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south from Iraqi government forces.

Iraq does not recognise the legitimacy of these zones and has been challenging the planes since 1998.