Iraq says it downed U.S.`spy' plane

BAGHDAD, AUG. 27. The Iraqi army today said its air defences had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance plane while it was flying over southern Iraq.

Western sources in Kuwait told Reuters that the United States lost contact with an unmanned Predator surveillance plane while it was on a mission over Iraq.

``The air defences in the Basra area shot down the plane when it was flying a spy mission inside Iraqi airspace,'' an Iraqi military spokesman told the Iraqi news agency. He did not say whether the aircraft was manned or not.

``This was an advanced plane which the Americans used during their aggression on Yugoslavia,'' he said, adding that the plane crossed into Iraq from Kuwait.

Iraqi Information Ministry officials said they were expecting a video tape from the Defence Ministry showing the wreckage of the downed plane and that Iraqi television would air it as soon as it was received.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said no U.S.- piloted aircraft had been hit and that he had no information whether an unmanned aircraft had been downed.

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Section  : International
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