[PEN-L:6866] U.S. Says Jets Strike North Iraq

["Frank Durgin" <fdurgin1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sat. May 15, 15 9:53 AM ET

U.S. Says Jets Strike Air Defenses In North Iraq

                  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes bombed a range of
Iraqi air defense sites Saturday after being
                  tracked by radar in the no-fly zone above northern Iraq,
said a statement from the jets' base in southern
                  Turkey.

U.S. Air Force F-16s and F-15s, ``responding in self defense,'' dropped
precision-guided bombs and fired anti-radiation
missiles on anti-aircraft artillery sites north of the city of Mosul, the
statement said.

``All coalition aircraft departed the area safely,'' it said.

Air strikes on targets in northern Iraq and in a no-fly zone in the south
of Iraq have become routine since December, when
Baghdad began actively challenging the patrols.

The U.S.-British Operation Northern Watch force operates out of Turkey's
Incirlik airbase some 550 km (340 miles) from the
Iraqi border.

NATO member Turkey said last week that it had ordered its military
authorities to allow the alliance to use its air bases in the
west of the country for operations against Yugoslavia.

Operation Northern Watch, in the east, is designed to protect the largely
Kurdish population there from air attack by Iraqi
government forces.

Turkey's permission is needed for any planned strikes against Iraq from its
territory, but planes flying from Incirlik are
allowed to fire in self-defense against any threat, which includes being
tracked by radar.