- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
warplanes on Monday attacked an air defense command-and-control target
in a "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq in response to attempts to
shoot down American and British jets, the U.S. military said.
-
- The Pentagon said it was the 37th such strike against
air defenses in northern and southern no-fly zones of Iraq this year. Those
attacks have increased in recent months as speculation has mounted that
the United States might invade Baghdad to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
-
- The U.S. Central Command said from its headquarters in
Tampa, Florida, that the jets launched precision-guided weapons against
the command facility near Al Amarah, about 170 miles southeast of Baghdad
at 1:30 a.m. EDT.
-
- The command did not say how many planes were involved
in Monday's raid. The Pentagon last week dismissed a British newspaper
report that 100 U.S. and British warplanes had conducted a very large raid
in southern Iraq in what could be a prelude to war.
-
- But defense officials did say last Thursday's strike
against a military airfield 240 miles west of Baghdad was bigger than usual,
involving a dozen warplanes using 25 precision-guided weapons.
-
- U.S. allies have raised major doubts about any invasion
of Iraq, although President Bush accuses Saddam of continuing to press
ahead with development of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons since
the 1991 Gulf War.
-
- In television interviews on Sunday top advisers to Bush
cited new evidence that Saddam was trying to make a nuclear bomb as they
made the administration's case to topple the Iraqi leader.
-
- Baghdad has repeatedly denied it is continuing weapons
of mass destruction programs, but has so far refused to allow U.N. weapons
inspectors back into the country following their withdrawal in 1998.
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