The Pentagon said today it had lost contact with an unmanned US reconnaissance plane over the no-fly zone in southern Iraq, the second such incident in as many weeks.
“The situation is very similar to what happened a couple of weeks ago. We have lost control of the (Predator) aircraft. We no longer have a data link”, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said.
Earlier, Iraq said it had shot down the unmanned, slow-moving U.S. plane over the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.
Quigley said the data link was lost with the Predator plane at 3:25 a.m. EDT (08.25 a.m. Irish time). “What we know is that we have lost control. There is a chance that we could regain control, but that is small”, said Rear Adm Quigley.
The possible loss of the aircraft came after growing efforts in recent weeks by US and British warplanes to attack Iraq's air defences.