US hits missile site

US WARPLANES bombed and apparently destroyed a newly established anti-ship missile site in southern Iraq yesterday that could threaten shipping in the Gulf.

Pentagon officials said that, in the latest of a series of incidents involving US and Iraqi forces, four attack jets from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the Gulf attacked the Russian-made CSSC-3 missile battery. US jets also made at least four strikes against anti-aircraft missile and radar sites in a "no-fly" zone in northern Iraq on Tuesday, the US Department of Defense said.

Defence officials said the missiles, with a range of about 60 miles, were moved in the past week to the coast southeast of Basra and could have posed a threat either to US warships or commercial shipping.