BEIJING — China urged the United States and Britain to halt military action against Iraq and cancel the "no-fly" zones, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.
"China is really concerned over the recent developments in Iraq and feels deeply uneasy for the civilian casualties caused by the bombing," Xinhua quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi as saying.
Sun said China had consistently advocated that Iraq's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence should be fully respected.
The Iraqi news agency said 14 people were killed and 19 injured by Western air strikes in southern Iraq on Thursday.
The U.S. military's Central Command confirmed that U.S. attack jets and British Royal Air Force Tornadoes struck anti-aircraft artillery targets in southern Iraq on Thursday in response to "repeated anti-aircraft fire" against warplanes patrolling the no-fly zone in the region earlier in the day.
U.S. and British planes patrolling northern and southern Iraq frequently clash with Iraqi air defences.
No-fly zones were declared in the two regions after the 1991 Gulf War by the Western powers, who said they were needed to protect dissidents from Iraqi air power.