HIGHLIGHTS: U.S. Central Command Says Military Facility Attacked in Southern Iraq While Baghdad Says Civilian & Service Installations Attacked in Qadissiyah||Iraq Increases Challenges to U.S. Aircraft, U.S. Central Command Says||Warplanes Use Precision-guided Weapons in Attack|| STORY: U.S. and British warplanes destroyed a military communications facility in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said Friday. Iraq said the missile strike killed five people, including a couple and their children.

The planes, patrolling the no-fly zone over southern Iraq, used precision-guided weapons to destroy the military site Thursday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The strikes came in response to continued Iraqi hostile actions toward coalition airplanes, it said.

Air Force Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa Jr. said Monday that Iraq had increased its challenges to coalition aircraft in the northern and southern no-fly zones. The two zones were created after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds and minority Shiite Muslims from Iraqi military forces.

The Iraqi military said the coalition planes bombed "civilian and service installations" in Qadissiya province, 155 miles south of Baghdad, on Thursday night.

The attack hit two nearby homes, destroying one and damaging the other, killing five people and injuring 17 others, the military said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency.

Among the dead were a husband, wife and their two children, the agency said. A 60-year-old man who was also killed was thought to be a relative.

U.S. military officials say they take great care to avoid civilians when making retaliatory strikes in Iraq.

Funerals for the air raid victims were held Friday in Diwaniya, the capital of Qadissiya province, the agency said. Government officials and members of Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party attended. Mourners shouted "Down with Bush" and "Down with America," while others demanded Saddam extract revenge.

Iraq has never recognized the no-fly zones and frequently tries to shoot down planes patrolling them.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Central Command Says Military Facility Attacked in Southern Iraq While Baghdad Says Civilian & Service Installations Attacked in Qadissiyah Attacked-JUL 19, 2002. (Reuters Graphic)
- Jul 13 2:57 PM