Friday July 20 8:57 PM ET

Pentagon: Iraq Fires at US Aircraft

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iraq apparently fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. surveillance plane in Kuwaiti airspace, Pentagon officials said Friday. The U.S. plane was not hit.

The crew of a Navy E2-C surveillance aircraft flying in Kuwaiti airspace on Thursday reported seeing the plume of a surface-to-air missile apparently fired from inside Iraqi territory, according to a senior defense official who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity.

The official said the sighting could not be immediately confirmed through other means. He said it was possible the missile was fired ballistically, meaning it was not guided by radar and in which case could not be tracked by its electronic emissions.

The E2-C was not hit by the missile, he said, and there were no other reported incidents.

If early reports of the incident are correct, it would be the first known instance of Iraq firing a missile into Kuwaiti airspace since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

U.S. and British jets have been patrolling no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq in a program designed to protect Kurdish and Shiite groups against government forces. Iraq disputes the legitimacy of the zones and regularly contests U.S. and British patrols by firing missiles and artillery guns.

Last month, a U.S. Navy fighter jet attacked an anti-aircraft artillery site in southern Iraq in what U.S. military officials called a response to attacks on U.S. and British aircraft patrolling the zones.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001