US, British warplanes destroyed 20% of Iraqi anti-aircraft missiles

The US Defense Department has announced that the US and British warplanes had destroyed about 20% of Iraq's batteries of anti-aircraft missiles since December 1998. Spokesman for the Pentagon Ken Bacon told journalists in Washington on Tuesday, "We have probably reduced the total number of surface-to-air missile systems he [Iraqi President Saddam Hussein] has by about 20 percent."

He added that many of the batteries which were not destroyed were transported to areas beyond the frontiers of the two no fly zone areas.