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Iraq Defense Officials Claim to Have Shot Down Unmanned U.S. Reconnaissance Plane

Aired August 27, 2001 - 06:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This is coming from the Iraqi defense officials. They are claiming that they shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane. We have not been able to confirm this yet with the Pentagon, but Rula Amin is in Baghdad with the latest.

What can you tell us, Rula?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, Iraqi officials and Iraqi news agency are saying that Iraq has managed today to shoot down a U.S. reconnaissance plane that came from Kuwait. According to an Iraqi official spokesman, the plane came from Kuwait and they say that it was flying in Iraqi skies when their air defenses have shot this plane and it has fell. They are saying that they are going to provide pictures to prove that they did shoot down this plane.

The incident took place today, this morning in the south of Iraq over the port of Basrah. This is like 300 miles -- over 300 miles to the south of Baghdad, and Iraqi air defenses are saying that they have been upgrading their facilities, their capacities in order to shoot down a U.S. plane. Here, the U.S. and British have been patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq for years and Iraqis had been promising to upgrade their air defenses until they manage to shoot down a plane. And today, they are saying they have managed to do that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Rula, is this normal to have the surveillance planes in this specific area? Is there proof that the plane did go past the zones designated?

AMIN: Well, according to the U.S., it is OK for these planes to fly over Iraq because they have enforced a no-fly zone over the southern and north of the country. And Iraq does not recognize these no-fly zones and that's why they're saying they're going to defy these planes and actually shoot them down.

There have been incidents in the past where it was -- air defenses have been shooting at these planes. And Iraq did claim in the past they have shot down some planes but this has not been proven. The Pentagon did not confirm it; Iraq was not able to prove it. This time they say they did manage to do it and they're going to provide pictures.

And to them, they think that this is a very legitimate target. They think that they are defending their skies because they don't recognize these zones. And they have promised before that they're going to upgrade their defenses and actually the Pentagon has been voicing concern that Iraq did upgrade its air defenses. And in the last few weeks, we have seen U.S. and British jets actually targeting Iraq's air defenses in an attempt to downgrade these defenses -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Rula Amin, live in Baghdad, thanks so much for the latest on that.

Once again, Iraqi defense officials are claiming they shot down an unmanned U.S. reconnaissance plane. We'll continue to follow the story.

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