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US-British planes hit missile base near Basra again
US and British warplanes Wednesday attacked an Iraqi surface-to-surface missile system that had been moved into striking range of US troops in Kuwait, US military officials said. The missile base, located near Basra in southern Iraq, was struck for the first time Tuesday, but coalition warplanes returned to knock out its radar, said Navy Commander Dan Balice, a spokesman for the US Central Command. "Today's target was against a portion of the system that was identified yesterday, but they didn't positively identify it as a legitimate target," he said. "So rather than hitting it when they weren't sure, they went back to recheck what they had seen and then hit it today."Being careful to avoid civilians A missile carrier also was struck in Wednesday's raid, said Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman. The first raid struck the missile launcher, a command van and a support vehicle, he said. This is why they used so many smart bombs during the first raid. Most likely the targets were spread out over a wide area. A defense official, who asked not to be named, said it was an Abadil-100 ballistic missile system. It was the first time such missile launchers have been targeted by US and British air forces. A Central Command statement said the raid was carried out "after Iraqi forces moved the missile system into range of coalition forces in Kuwait." Those troops bunched up in Kuwait are too good a target for any WMD that Sammy's got. Anything that could hit them will be taken out ASAP. Posted by: Steve 2003-02-13 |
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