BAGHDAD, Mar 20, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- U.S. and British warplanes dropped
incendiary bombs in northern Iraq on Tuesday, said an Iraqi military spokesman.

In a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency, the spokesman said that at 12:25
local time (0925 GMT), the U.S. and British jets made a total of 14 armed sorties over Iraq's
three northern provinces of Dohuk, Neiveva and Erbil.

They dropped incendiary bombs in the Ain Zallah region of Neiveva province, the
spokesman said, without mentioning whether there were any casualties or property damage.

The planes were challenged by the Iraqi air defense artillery and were forced to flee back to
their air bases in Turkey, the spokesman added.

The incident followed the U.S.-British air attack against Baghdad on February 16. That
attack was the first major military operation outside the two no-fly zones since December
1998, when the U.S. and Britain jointly launched air strikes against Iraq.

The northern no-fly zone, which covers the provinces of Dohuk, Neiveva and Erbil, was set
up by the U.S.-led Western allies in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War with the claimed aim of
protecting the Kurds in northern Iraq from the forces of President Saddam Hussein.

A similar air exclusion zone was declared by the U.S. and Britain over southern Iraq with
the alleged aim of protecting the Shiite Muslims in the region.

Iraq does not recognize the zones, which are not authorized by any United Nations
resolutions, and has regularly fired at U.S. and British aircraft patrolling them.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com