WASHINGTON, April 22: The Iraq military has in recent days moved anti-aircraft missiles into northern and southern “no-fly” zones of that country to an extent not seen in years, the US military’s top general said on Monday.

But Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added at a Pentagon briefing that the air defense build-up in the zones, which are patrolled by US and British warplanes, appeared to be part of episodic movements in and out of the areas.

“It was just reported to me today that some of these movements of surface-to-air missile systems into regions where we enforce the no-fly zones under the U.N. resolutions are greater than they have been in a couple of years,” he told reporters. “This is one of the things that we have seen over time, that in the no-fly zones there will be surface-to-air missiles moved in, moved around and moved out.—Reuters