U.S. and British planes also struck in the southern no-fly zone today after two Iraqi planes crossed into the zone.

In the north, U.S. F-15s dropped 11 precision-guided bombs on Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery and radar sites near Mosul, the U.S.-European command reported. Mosul is 250 miles north of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

None of the planes was damaged and all returned safely to their base of Incirlik, in southern Turkey. The U.S.-European command said damage to the Iraqi sites was being assessed.

Allied warplanes have barred Iraqi military flights over northern and southern Iraq since after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to protect Kurdish rebel and Shiite Muslim groups.

Iraq has challenged allied forces in the no-fly zones almost daily since the U.S.-British bombardment of Iraq in December. Iraq has threatened to attack Turkey, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia if the U.S. and British flights continue.

In the southern no-fly zone today, six U.S. F-15E fighters and an unspecified number of British Tornado jets attacked two communications facilities and two weapons storage facilities near Basra, the U.S. Central Command reported.

No American or British planes were damaged in the attacks, and bomb damage was being assessed, the U.S. military said.

The attacks in the southern no-fly zone took place in response to two Iraqi MiG-23 planes that briefly crossed into the zone and retreated.

-- AP - 2/21/99