ANKARA U.S. warplanes bombed radar sites which locked onto them in the no-fly zone of northern Iraq on Tuesday, a statement from their base in Turkey said. Responding in self-defense, U.S. Air Force F-16CJ Falcons dropped GBU-12 laser-guided bombs on Iraqi radar sites northeast of (the Iraqi city of) Mosul, it said, adding that all planes returned safely to base. Air strikes on targets in northern Iraq and in a no-fly zone in the south of Iraq have become routine since December, when Baghdad began actively challenging the patrols.

The U.S.-British operation Northern Watch force, operating out of the Incirlik airbase some 550 km (340 miles) from the Iraqi border, has enforced the no-fly zone north of the 36th parallel in Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The operation is designed to protect the largely Kurdish population there from air attack by Iraqi government forces. Turkish permission is needed for any planned strikes against Iraq from its territory, but planes flying from Incirlik are allowed to fire in self-defense against any threat, which includes being tracked by radar.

(Reuter)