However, the dispatch did not refer to the statement from Washington. Coalition aircraft operating out of Turkey launched the strike in northern Iraq after coming under anti-aircraft artillery fire ortheast of near Mousel, the U.S. European Command said. It was the second day in a row that U.S. and British aircraft enforcing a no-fly zone in northern Iraq retaliated with air strikes after coming under Iraqi fire. Iraq gave a different account.

An Iraqi military spokesman quoted by INA said the U.S. and British warplanes had bombed "civilian and services installations" in the Northern province of Neynava before being driven away by Iraqi ground defenses.

An Iraqi air defense spokesman also said Iraq opened missile and artillery fire on coalition aircraft that staged "69 armed sorties" over southern Iraq on Sunday evening and Monday morning, driving them back to their bases in Kuwait. The latest attack coincided with the arrival in Baghdad of a U.N. arms inspection team led by Swedish diplomat Hans Blix to resume work suspended in 1998 amid Iraq's refusal to cooperate.

He is armed with unprecedented search powers under the new U.N. resolution. Iraq's failure to cooperate with his team's work could constitute a "material breach" and trigger "serious consequences."