BAGHDAD, Sept 26: Iraq said on Thursday US warplanes had raided Basra civilian airport and damaged its radar system, in the latest attack by Western jets enforcing no-fly zones over Iraq.

The United States confirmed it attacked the airport, saying it had targeted a military radar there.

Iraq’s state-run satellite television quoted a government spokesman as saying the attack on the airport at Basra, 480kms southeast of Baghdad, took place on Wednesday night.

The airport occupies a large area in the strategic Basra province, home to Iraq’s main port at the mouth of the Gulf and major oil installations.

“The raids destroyed the main radar system in the airport as well as damaging the main service building at the airport,” the television said.

It was the second attack on Basra airport’s radar system.

US F-16 warplanes destroyed the system in August last year. US defence officials said at the time the warplanes attacked a military radar as part of a concerted strategy to destroy Iraq’s air defences, which regularly fire at Western warplanes.

Baghdad said on Wednesday US and British jets attacked civilian targets in the south of the country the day before and one civilian was wounded.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said early damage assessments of the Basra attack showed the US jets had destroyed the military radar that was the target of the raid.

“The Basra strike did take place at a civilian airfield but it was directed at a military radar located on the civilian airfield,” Lieutenant Colonel Dave Lapan told Reuters.

“The strike was directed at the radar which has threatened coalition aircraft.”

He said US aircraft also struck a target near Al Kufa, located about 130kms south of Baghdad.

US aircraft, along with British jets, police two no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq set up after the 1991 war.

The Iraqi News Agency reported President Saddam Hussein chaired a meeting of top Iraqi officials hours after Wednesday’s attack.

The INA said they discussed “the current political situation”, but gave no further details.—Reuters