Iraq said on Monday that U.S. and British warplanes killed six civilians and wounded another 15 in raids on Basra.
An Iraqi military spokesman said the planes patrolling a "no-fly" zone in the south of the country entered Iraqi airspace at 9:45 p.m. (1845 GMT) on Sunday and later targeted civilian sites in the province of Basra.
In a statement on the Iraqi News Agency, he said Iraqi anti-aircraft units fired at the planes which returned to bases in Kuwait. But the United States military said the planes attacked five air defense targets early on Monday in response to anti-aircraft fire from the ground.
A British Defense Ministry spokeswoman said Britain would look into the Iraqi allegations. "This is one of the stronger allegations they have made so we are looking into it," she said. But she added: "The early indications are that these reports are probably not accurate."
The U.S. Central Command said aircraft used precision-guided weapons to strike four fiber optic communications centers near Al Kut about 140 kilometers southeast of Baghdad and a military command and control center near Basra.
Meanwhile, Kuwait said on Monday it would accept U.S. troops who had been intended to be deployed in Turkey after the Turkish parliament refused to allow them into the country, the Kuwaiti defense minister said.
"If they (United States) present a formal request we are willing," Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Hamad al-Sabah told reporters. (Albawaba.com)
