Four Killed, 27 Injured in U.S.-British Air Raids on Southern Iraq: Official
"Four citizens were killed and 27 injured when enemy warplanes bombed civilian and services installations" in Basra and two other southern provinces, he was quoted by the official INA news agency as saying.
Residents of Basra had told AFP earlier by telephone that at least eight people were killed and 20 injured when Western warplanes bombed the premises of the southern oil company.
Two rockets hit the compound at 1100 A.M. (0800 GMT), killing at least eight people and wounding around 20, they said. A large number of passers-by were also slightly injured by flying glass.
Between 600 and 700 employees were in the premises at the time of the raid on Basra, 560 kilometers (350 miles) south of Baghdad, according to residents who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The military spokesman said coalition aircraft raided the provinces of Basra, Zi Qar, 375 kilometers (235 miles) south of Baghdad, and Al-Kut, 170 kilometers (105 miles) south of the capital.
The planes staged 62 "armed sorties" over a dozen locations in the south at 09:15 A.M., the spokesman said.
"Iraqi missile batteries and ground defenses confronted the warplanes, forcing them to flee to their bases in Kuwait," he said.
"The American and British criminals have thus perpetrated another ugly crime to be added to their ongoing crimes against the brave and steadfast people of Iraq," the spokesman added.
The U.S. Central Command said coalition warplanes had bombed an Iraqi air defense site on Sunday in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire against the U.S. and British aircraft.
"Operation Southern Watch Coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons today to target Iraqi air defense facilities," 274 kilometers (170 miles) southeast of Baghdad, according to a statement released from command headquarters at Macdill Air Force Base, outside Tampa in the southern U.S. State of Florida.