BAGHDAD, July 28: US and British warplanes raided “civilian installations” in southern Iraq on Sunday, an Iraqi military spokesman said, without reporting casualties.

The planes “carried out raids against 16 regions of southern Iraq and against civilian and service installations in Wassit province”, 160 kilometres from Baghdad, he said, quoted by the official news agency INA.

Iraq says US-British raids in the air exclusion zones have now killed 1,484 Iraqis and wounded 1,422. Baghdad does not recognize the zones, which are not sanctioned by any UN resolution.

In Baghdad, an estimated 5,000 Arabs held a pro-Iraqi and pro-Palestinian protest on Sunday outside UN offices, burning US and Israeli flags and condemning US threats of military action against Iraq.—AFP