BAGHDAD (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Iraq said on Monday its upgraded air defenses had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance plane over southern Iraq.The U.S. military confirmed that a 3.3 million unmanned RQ-1B Predator aircraft had gone missing over Iraq and may have crashed or been shot down while operating to enforce a ``no fly'' zone over much of the country's south.
It said the Predator was the first plane of its kind to be lost over Iraq.
The loss of the Predator was a significant morale boost for Baghdad, which considers Western sorties over its territory unlawful aggression.
``The air defenses in the Basra area shot down the plane when it was flying a spy mission inside Iraqi airspace,'' an Iraqi military spokesman said.
Iraqi television aired video footage of the wreckage of the U.S. plane scattered over the desert near the port of Basra, 300 miles southeast of Baghdad. The footage showed an aircraft engine, mangled wires and communication boxes with the inscriptions ``property of the USAF'' and ``US Navy prop.'' (Read photo caption)
``This was an advanced plane which the Americans used during their aggression on Yugoslavia,'' the spokesman told the Iraqi News Agency, adding that the plane had been shot down at 0445 GMT on Monday.
``Our air defenses have been modernized to confront the planes of aggression, which was admitted by U.S. officials,'' the Iraqi military spokesman said.
U.S. officials said earlier this year Chinese technicians had been helping Iraq lay fiber-optic cables to integrate its air defenses.
In late July, U.S. defense officials said the Iraqi military had come close to hitting a high-altitude U-2 spy plane with a modified Russian-made anti-aircraft missile.
U.S. and British planes launched two attacks this month against what Washington described as an upgraded Iraqi air defense network. Baghdad said the attacks were on infrastructure targets, causing civilian deaths and injuries.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the Predator was identifying Iraqi targets to prepare for air raids that already killed 353 civilians since the no-fly zones were carved 10 years ago.
``Whether manned or not, this is a form of aggression that is not allowed under international law,'' Sabri told CNN.``We shall be steadfast in our confrontation to their (U.S. and British) aggression,'' the minister said.
The Iraqi spokesman said one Iraqi civilian was killed and three others were wounded in a separate incursion on Monday by U.S. and British warplanes over northern Iraq.
A spokesman for U.S. European Command based in Germany confirmed that Western planes had attacked military targets north of Mosul after coming under fire during a routine patrol of a northern ``no-fly'' zone. A British Defense Ministry spokesman said no British planes were involved.
NATIONAL JOY
In the air strike in north Iraq, Baghdad said the western planes targeted infrastructure facilities in Duhouk, Arbeil, and Nineveh provinces.
Iraqis were ecstatic over the U.S. loss of a Predator. Most have developed deep hatred for the United States after living for 11 years under an economic embargo imposed by the United Nations after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Iraqi forces were driven out after seven months by a U.S.-led multinational force.
``This is a good omen. A piloted aircraft -- God willing -- will be next in line,'' said Halim, a taxi driver.
Official media refer to Western planes, which regularly police two ``no-fly zones'' in northern and southern Iraq, as ''the crows of evil.''
No pilots have been lost since the no-fly zones were set up in 1991.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Wreckage of a U.S. spy plane lies on the southern Iraqi desert near the port city of al-Basra August 27, 2001 in a photo provided by the Iraqi News Agency. The Iraqi army said its upgraded air defenses had shot down the reconnaissance plane while it was flying over southern Iraq. The U.S. military confirmed that a 3.2 million unmanned Predator plane went missing over Iraq. (INA via Reuters)