WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. and British warplanes bombed a radar site in southern Iraq Friday after Iraq fired at warplanes patrolling a no-fly zone, the Pentagon (news - web sites) said.
It was the first coalition strike on Iraq since Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government accepted the U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that he disarm and allow inspectors to search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
President Bush (news - web sites) and other U.S. officials have said they believe that Iraq's firing on coalition planes patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones would violate the latest U.N. resolution.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. David Lapan said Friday evening that Iraq had fired surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery at coalition planes.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials have been vague about whether Iraqi hostile actions in the no-fly zones would be considered a trigger for a wider U.S.-led attack.
Coalition planes used precision-guided weapons to attack an "air defense communications facility" near An Najaf about 85 miles southeast of Baghdad, a Pentagon statement said. The strike happened at about 2:50 p.m. EST.
There were previous strikes on Sunday against two surface-to-air missile sites near Tallil, 175 miles southeast of Baghdad.
It was the first coalition strike on Iraq since Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government accepted the U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that he disarm and allow inspectors to search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
President Bush (news - web sites) and other U.S. officials have said they believe that Iraq's firing on coalition planes patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones would violate the latest U.N. resolution.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. David Lapan said Friday evening that Iraq had fired surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery at coalition planes.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials have been vague about whether Iraqi hostile actions in the no-fly zones would be considered a trigger for a wider U.S.-led attack.
Coalition planes used precision-guided weapons to attack an "air defense communications facility" near An Najaf about 85 miles southeast of Baghdad, a Pentagon statement said. The strike happened at about 2:50 p.m. EST.
There were previous strikes on Sunday against two surface-to-air missile sites near Tallil, 175 miles southeast of Baghdad.
