MESSAGE BOARD:

Middle East: Iraq

March 14, 1999
Web posted at: 8:11 a.m. EST (1311 GMT)

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- U.S. fighter planes struck at Iraqi targets in that country's northern "no-fly" zone on Sunday, a U.S. military spokesman in Turkey said.

The pilots "responded in self-defense to Iraqi threats," said U.S. officials at Incirlik air base in Turkey, where the planes are based. They gave no further details of the attack.

Such attacks have become routine since December, when Iraq announced it would no longer recognize the no-fly zones.

The zones were set up in northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. U.S. and British jets enforce a ban on Iraqi flights in order to protect minority Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south.

In December, Iraq's obstruction of U.N. weapons inspectors prompted a four-day allied bombing campaign. After those attacks, Iraq began targeting Western planes patrolling the no-fly zones.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.