US blames Saddam for 'initiating attack'

WASHINGTON, Jan 26: US military officials says they regret the civilian casualties caused by an American missile attack in southern Iraq, but they say the blame lies with President Saddam Hussein for threatening US pilots patrolling Iraqi skies, reports AP.

Gen. Anthony Zinni, commander of US forces in the Gulf area, said Monday the American military will continue to hit Iraqi air defence radars, missiles and communications facilities in response to what he called increasingly hostile actions by Iraq.

Zinni said Iraq tripled the number of surface-to-air missile, or SAM, batteries in the southern "no-fly" zone patrolled by US and British warplanes in recent weeks. He said Iraqi fighter aircraft are trying to draw allied pilots into "SAM-bushes'' in hopes of shooting one down.

Zinni said he could not yet confirm that the extensive damage and casualties to residential areas in and around the southern port city of Basra on Monday was caused by errant US missiles.

"We deeply regret any civilian casualties regardless of what the cause may be," he said. "But these exchanges have been initiated by Saddam Hussein." He said the United States wanted its Arab allies in the region to understand that US missile attacks do not target civilians.

"No one can guarantee that these strikes will not have errors or we might not have errant ordnance, but we do take every possible attempt to ensure that doesn't happen," Zinni said.

The four-star Marine Corps general said it was premature to consider apologising for the civilian losses.

Zinni said air crews that returned from Monday's mission over southern Iraq were interviewed as part of a painstaking effort to pinpoint what happened in the attacks.

In Iraq, Basra governor Ahmed Ibrahim Hamash said two American aircraft fired five missiles that killed 11 people and injured 59.

The official Iraqi News Agency said one American missile hit the Al-Jumhuriya neighbourhood of Basra, a southern port city. Others hit later in the nearby village of Abu al-Khaseeb, as well as the Basra airport and an oil field.

US officials said the American planes targeted an Iraqi SA-3 surface-to-air missile battery north of Basra and "associated integrated air defense systems."