May 25, 1999
Web posted at: 10:13 a.m. EDT (1413 GMT)

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (CNN) -- U.S. forces bombed a communication site north of Mosul on Tuesday after American pilots patrolling Iraq's northern no-fly zone came under attack, U.S. military officials said.

Between noon and 2:30 p.m. (5 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. EDT), U.S. aircraft detected anti-aircraft artillery, officials said.

The U.S. pilots, responding in self-defense, dropped laser-guided bombs on a communication site used to feed location data on coalition aircraft to Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile sites, the officials said.

All coalition aircraft flew home safely.

Coalition aircraft have patrolled the northern no-fly zone for more than eight years.

In December, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein began challenging the enforcement by targeting coalition aircraft with radar, surface-to-air missile systems and anti-aircraft artillery.

Coalition forces have repeatedly warned that its aircraft will respond to such threats in self-defense.

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