ISTANBUL, Turkey -- U.S. warplanes bombed an Iraqi air-defense system Sunday after being fired on in the northern no-fly zone, the U.S. military said.
Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery from a site near Bashiqah, 250 miles north of Baghdad, according to a statement from the Germany-based U.S. European Command.All allied planes left the area safely, it added. There was no immediate reaction from Iraqi authorities concerning damage.
U.S. and British planes have been patrolling no-fly zones in north and south Iraq since shortly after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to protect Kurdish and Shiite populations from the forces of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
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The U.S. jets patrol the zone from Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey.