Residents in Mosul assess damage which Iraqi officials say was caused by Western airstrikes RELATED VIDEO CNN's James Martone reports on the ongoing clashes in Iraq's no-fly zones Windows Media 28K 80K

April 30, 1999
Web posted at: 10:14 p.m. EDT (0214 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq said seven people were killed Friday in an attack by Western planes in the northern "no-fly" zone near the town of Mosul.

The Iraqi news agency INA quoted a military official as saying the deaths were caused by a bomb that fell on a shepherd's tent in the Bashiqa region. There was no independent confirmation of that report.

The U.S. European Command said F-15s and F-16s dropped laser-guided bombs and missiles after being targeted by Iraqi radar and fired upon by anti-aircraft artillery. All of the planes returned to their bases unharmed, U.S. officials said.

On Thursday, attacks by Western aircraft near Mosul, about 250 miles (400 km) north of Baghdad, injured at least 20 people and destroyed several houses, according to Iraqi military officials. They also claimed that four people were injured in attacks in the southern no-fly zone.

A man holds up a piece of wreckage at the scene of the destruction in Mosul

The no-fly zones were set up by the United States, Britain and France after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to deter the Iraqi air force from attacking rebels in the northern and southern reaches of the country. Iraq does not recognize the zones and has vowed to attack any Western plane that enters its airspace.

Since the U.S.-led strikes on Iraq last December during Operation Desert Fox, U.S. and British planes have attacked at least 200 Iraqi targets on 50 separate days.

The precise number of targets is not available because the Pentagon has stopped releasing even routine information about the number of planes used and the targets attacked in the no-fly zones.

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.