The Iraqi army said today two civilians were killed and 13 injured when US and British planes bombed southern Iraq yesterday.
The US Central Command said the Western aircraft had used precision-guided weapons against mobile military radars in response to "Iraqi hostile acts" against coalition aircraft patrolling the southern "no-fly zone".
Yesterday's raid, the fifth in six days, was the latest in a series of escalating skirmishes coinciding with a US military build-up in the Gulf to prepare for possible invasion of Iraq.
The US Central Command said in a statement today the strike came after Iraqi forces moved radars into the southern no-fly zone.
Iraqi military authorities routinely describe bombing incidents as attacks on civilians.
The US and British military say they strive to avoid inflicting civilian casualties but respond to Iraqi violations of the ceasefire agreed at the end of the 1991 Gulf War - such as the movement of anti-aircraft radar into the no-fly zones.
The United States and Britain declared no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from Baghdad's forces. Iraq does not recognise the zones.