U.S., U.K. planes bomb Iraq

MANAMA, Bahrain -- U.S. and British warplanes bombed an anti-aircraft base in southern Iraq Thursday after coming under Iraqi artillery fire, a U.S. official said. \nThe attack happened at 3:45 p.m. on Al Faw Peninsula, 290 miles southeast of Baghdad, said Maj. Brett Morris, spokesman for the Joint Task Force Southwest Asia. He said all aircraft returned safely to base, and a damage assessment was under way. \nLater Thursday, the official Iraqi News Agency quoted an unidentified Iraqi military spokesman as saying U.S. and British planes had attacked Iraqi "civil and service installations" in recent days. \nThursday's strikes marked the third time this year that coalition warplanes have returned fire on Iraqi forces and the second consecutive day that aircraft have come under Iraqi attack. \nCoalition warplanes returned fire Wednesday against an Iraqi military site near Tallil, 170 miles southeast of Baghdad. \nU.S. and British planes have been patrolling the skies over northern and southern Iraq since after the 1991 Gulf War.\nThe patrols were set up to protect Kurds and Shiite Muslims from Iraqi forces. Baghdad says they violate international law and has been challenging allied planes since December 1998.