Iraq: 4 dead after no-fly zone attack

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For the first time since September 4, U.S. warplanes Monday bombed Iraq's integrated air defense system in a northern part of the country.

Iraq said Monday that four people were killed when U.S. and British warplanes attacked a civilian area near Mosul in the northern no-fly zone.

The U.S. European Command said its jets struck elements of the Iraqi integrated air defense system after its planes were fired on by anti-aircraft batteries.

U.S. aircraft regularly patrol Iraq's northern no-fly zone and have been shot at by Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery and missiles. Often the precise source of such fire is not known. This time, however, pilots were able to pinpoint the location of the Iraqi launch site and responded by dropping precision munitions, European Command officials said.

The Iraqi account, carried by the Iraqi News Agency, said its missile and anti-aircraft installations "confronted" the planes after they violated Iraqi air space flying from Turkey.

The European Command said all its planes returned safely.

U.S. warplanes have conducted a small number of strikes recently in Iraq's southern no-fly zone. Officials say Monday's ground fire does not represent any particular move by Iraq to increase its challenge the U.S. flights.