BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said one civilian was wounded on Friday when U.S. and British warplanes attacked civilian targets in the south of the country.
"At 10:50 a.m. today American and British planes carried out 32 sorties from bases in Kuwait," an Iraqi military spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).
"The planes attacked our civilian and service installations in Amarah, wounding one citizen," the spokesman said.
Iraqi anti-aircraft guns fired at the planes and forced them to return to their bases, he added.
Western aircraft began patrolling northern and southern no-fly zones in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. Exchanges of fire have increased in recent months amid speculation that Washington is preparing for a possible invasion of Iraq to oust President Saddam Hussein.
The United States accuses Saddam of backing international terrorism and trying to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
The Pentagon's top general, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, said on Wednesday Iraq has in recent days increased attempts to shoot down U.S. and British planes policing the no-fly zones.
Iraqi resistance to the policing aircraft has increased and decreased over the years. The country is under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.