Iraqi claims of air raid denied

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and British defence officials have denied an Iraqi report that their planes killed a civilian during a patrol in the southern no-fly zone.

The official Iraqi News Agency reported that the patrol fired on civilian targets early on Saturday, killing one person and injuring two.

The alleged attack would have coincided with a national holiday in Iraq to mark the 64th birthday of its president Saddam Hussein.

But the British Ministry of Defence denied reports that U.S. and British warplanes had dropped bombs, the British news agency the Press Association said.

An Iraqi unidentified military spokesman had told INA that the Iraqi air defence units had fired on the planes, "forcing them to leave our skies for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait."

The British Defence Ministry spokesman said the planes did not respond when they came under fire from Iraqi forces.

"We had a coalition patrol flying in the southern no-fly zone today that was fired at by Iraqi ground forces.

"However, we didn't respond, so no bombs were dropped," the spokesman said.

In Washington, Defense Department spokeswoman Susan Hansen told CNN that "while there were flights over Iraq today, there was no ordinance."

The planes were performing a routine patrol of the southern zone. They operate from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as well as from U.S. aircraft carriers in the Gulf.

The no-fly zones were set up in the early 1990s to protect Kurdish rebels in the north and Shi'ite rebels in the south from Iraqi government forces.

Iraq does not recognise the no-fly zones and has been challenging the Western allied planes since late 1998.

The INA said the air strike had hit civilian targets in the Najaf province.

The Iraqi military spokesman told INA: "While people were celebrating President Saddam Hussein's birthday, the evil aggressors committed another crime to be added to the list of their crimes against our people."

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