Some 27,000 sorties by US planes in Iraqi airspace since 1998

A US paper said on Thursday that US jets are using "cement" bombs instead of the traditional explosive bombs.

The US New York Times daily quoted military officials as saying that these bombs, which are being made public for the first time, destroy their target but do not make the shockwave caused by ordinary bombs, which they claimed, restricts collateral or further damage.

The US military officials added that these bombs are specially used against military targets that are close to residential areas. The US military officials refused to reveal the way these bombs work.

They added that since December 1998, the US and British warplanes carried out some 16,000 sorties over Southern Iraq, dropped 550 bombs against 135 targets and flown more than 11,000 sorties over the northern part of the country where they dropped more that 1,100 bombs against 250 objectives.