Five Iraqis killed in raids against southern Iraq; US planes drop warnings from air

Five Iraqi citizens were killed and other 11 wounded in raids launched by American and British planes against civilians and services establishments in the south of Iraq, according to a military spokesman in Baghdad.

This however, coincided with a message sent by the Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabril to the UN secretary general Kofi Annan calling on him to interfere to "halt the US, British aggression against Iraq." The coalition planes on Thursday dropped clips over the so-called "no fly zones" warning the Iraqi air defense from targeting them while flying in the Iraqi airspace.

The Iraqi military spokesman announced that the US planes bombarded al-Nasereyah city ( 350 km to the south of Baghdad), and carried out 55 air sorties over the areas of the central and southern parts of Iraq.

The coalition warning read "Do not attack or fire on coalition aircraft: The destruction experienced by your colleagues in other air defense locations is a response to your continuing aggression toward planes of the coalition forces. No tracking or firing on these aircraft will be tolerated. You could be next."