US warplanes yesterday attacked Iraqi targets for the second time this week after Baghdad fired missiles on British and US aircraft in Iraq's southern no-fly zone, a Defence Department spokesman said.
Soon after news broke of the clash, President Clinton spoke to the Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin, about Iraq. Mr Yeltsin has been critical of US policy on Baghdad but both agreed that despite their differences "it's important to continue to build the US-Russian relationship," the White House said.
The US Defence Department spokesman said there were no coalition casualties and the 24 aircraft, including British Tornado and US F-16 fighter jets, had returned safely to base with no damage.
"We can say that we successfully engaged three [Iraqi] targets. We don't know to what level the success was," said Maj Joe LaMarca, a spokesman for US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, which oversees operations in the Gulf region.
The White House said Mr Clinton spoke to Mr Yeltsin for 40 minutes and that the two leaders discussed their differences over US-led military action against Iraq.
The White House National Security Council spokesman, Mr David Leavy, said Mr Yeltsin "stated his views, but the President explained why force was necessary".
It was the first time Mr Clinton and Mr Yeltsin had spoken since the US and British air strikes on Iraqi targets earlier this month, which drew sharp protests from Moscow and led to an escalation of tension between Iraq and the US.
Yesterday's clash was the second this week between US and Iraqi forces in the northern and southern Iraqi no-fly zones, which Baghdad has declared illegal and does not recognise.
On Monday, US warplanes from Incirlik air base in Turkey attacked an Iraqi anti-aircraft site in the north after it launched surface-to-air missiles at the jets. US officials said no planes were damaged in either clash this week.
Mr LaMarca said from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida that US and British aircraft were conducting a routine patrol at about 1.30 a.m. EST (6.30 a.m. Irish time) yesterday when the Iraqis fired between six and eight surface-to-air missiles at them from a site south-west of Talil in southern Iraq.
The British pilots, who were flying on the same mission in the southern no-fly zone with the Americans, first detected the Iraqi missiles and the Americans retaliated.
"In response to that unprovoked attack, we responded by firing two HARM missiles [antiradar missiles] and we dropped a number of GBU-12 500 pound precision-guided munitions at approximately 2.15 a.m. Eastern Time," said Mr LaMarca
A British defence official confirmed in London that British Tornado warplanes had come under attack from Iraqi missiles over southern Iraq but that they had returned safely to base.
The British defence official said the firm response to Iraqi provocation was ample evidence of British and US commitment to keep up patrols of the no-fly zone.
Mr Leavy also said the patrols would go on. "This is a key element of our containment policy to prevent [President] Saddam Hussein from using his aircraft to threaten his own people and his neighbours.
"We will continue to vigorously enforce it and our aircraft will take the necessary precautions to carry out their mission and defend themselves," he said.
Officials at Incirlik base in Turkey said US warplanes had returned safely to base yesterday after patrolling the northern exclusion zone.
AFP adds:
Iraq said one "farmer" was killed and two other people wounded in an Allied attack yesterday after its anti-aircraft batteries opened fire on "enemy" aircraft.
It was said it was "virtually certain" that it had downed one Allied aircraft in the initial clash.
"Our anti-aircraft batteries fired missiles at Allied aircraft coming from Saudi Arabia which had come close to our positions forcing them to head home," an army communique said.
"A second group of enemy aircraft violated our airspace at 10.13 a.m. (7.13 a.m. Irish time) and fired missiles on the same region killing a farmer and wounding two other people," the communique said.