Iraq Takes Blame for Downing U.S. Plane
NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq said today that it shot down a U.S. aircraft for the second time in less than two weeks.
A Pentagon spokesman confirmed that an unmanned Predator surveillance plane had not returned to its base and was considered overdue. He said all other planes and crews had returned from their missions safely.
The state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that the U.S. plane took off from Kuwait and was downed at 11:30 a.m. while flying over the district of Basra, about 400 miles south of Baghdad.
"The plane was coming from Kuwaiti territory and it was used to provide the American enemy with information concerning our installations, vital sites and our air-defense formations," INA said, quoting an unidentified spokesman from the Iraqi Air Defense Command.
INA quoted the spokesman as saying the spy plane was "shot down in revenge for the martyrs of great Iraq and free Palestine."
On Aug. 27, the Iraqi military said it shot down a U.S. reconnaissance plane over the same location. Iraqi television stations broadcast again Tuesday shots of the wreckage. U.S. officials said they do not know if that Predator was shot down or crashed for other reasons.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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