Mon December 23, 2002 11:46 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Underscoring tensions as talk of war looms, a U.S. military unmanned Predator spy plane was presumed lost on Monday after being fired on by an Iraqi aircraft in the southern no-fly zone of Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said.

The incident is the first apparent downing of a U.S. aircraft in the no-fly zone since a new U.N. disarmament resolution was passed in November. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers said he did not view the incident as an escalation of the dispute with Iraq over U.N. disarmament demands.

"A U.S. Predator was reported missing in southern Iraq after being fired upon by Iraqi military aircraft, and the Predator is assumed to be lost. The incident occurred in the southern no-fly zone," U.S. military Central Command spokesman Navy Cmdr. Dan Gage said.

He said Iraq has fired on international coalition aircraft on 32 days since Nov. 8, when the U.N. adopted a new resolution demanding Iraq dismantle its alleged weapons of mass destruction programs and comply with earlier U.N. resolutions. Iraq has fired on 500 coalition aircraft so far in 2002, he said.

"This is the first aircraft that we've had that's been shot down in the no-fly zone," since the resolution, he said. In May, Iraq said its air defenses had forced an unmanned reconnaissance plan on a mission over northern Iraq to land, and in October, 2001 Iraq boasted of shooting down a Predator.

Myers told reporters in Washington the newest incident was in keeping with previous Iraqi hostility toward international coalition aircraft. "I do not see it as an escalation," he said.

Iraq, which does not recognize the no-fly zones set up after the 1991 Gulf War, charges that Western airplanes have attacked civilian targets and killed innocent people. The Pentagon denies that.

-- Anonymous, December 23, 2002