Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 20, 1991 TAG: 9103200535
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Medium
It was the first reported air engagement between allied and Iraqi forces since fighting ceased in the Gulf War three weeks ago.
In Washington, the White House said the incident did not mean a resumption of hostilities.
President Bush warned that U.S. forces will not hesitate to shoot down any other planes that fly, but added: "I don't think that will happen."
The engagement took place near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in central Iraq, less than 100 miles from a key northern city that Kurdish rebels claimed was being bombarded by Iraqi aircraft today.
The United States has warned Iraq not to use its warplanes against insurgencies in the north and south. It was not immediately known whether the Iraqi plane shot down today was moving against rebels.
Lt. Cmdr. David Knox, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Riyadh, said the Iraqi jet fighter was one of two planes that were detected by an American AWACS early warning plane. The other Iraqi fighter "landed on its own after the engagement," Knox said.
He said a U.S. Air Force F-15C jet fighter shot down the Iraqi Su-22 at about 1:50 p.m. (5:50 a.m. EST) near Tikrit, 110 miles north of Baghdad.
"The Iraqi attempt to fly these two fighter aircraft is a violation of terms agreed with Iraqi military officials during talks at Safwan, Iraq, on March 3," Knox said in a telephone interview.
In a second round of cease-fire talks on Sunday, allied military commanders met with Iraqi commanders and warned them they cannot move their warplanes in Iraq for any reason.
U.S. Maj. Gen. Robert Johnston warned the Iraqis that the use of warplanes would be a clear violation of the temporary cease-fire set by Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the U.S. commander in the gulf, at the first round of talks two weeks ago in Safwan, near the Kuwait-Iraq border.
In Washington, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater noted that Schwarzkopf told the Iraqis the allies would shoot down any Iraqi warplanes that continued to fly.
"Schwarzkopf said during the cease-fire discussions they could not fly fixed-wing aircraft. They did. We shot it down," Fitzwater told reporters. However, he said the single incident did not represent a resumption of the war against Iraq.
"We're not resuming hostilities. We're not re-engaging," he said. "We're simply proceeding with the cease-fire as we outlined it to the Iraqis."
Air Force Lt. Col. Virginia Pribyla, spokeswoman for Central Command, would not say what fighter wing or unit the F15s belonged to.
She said the United States has been flying combat air patrols over Iraqi territory ever since the cease-fire began, but refused to comment on the number of planes involved, what areas of Iraq they are flying over, or what weapons they carry. The planes are believed to carry air-to-air weapons to shoot down planes and bombs to hit ground targets.
Before the Gulf War began Jan. 17, Iraq was believed to have some 700 warplanes. Of those, the Pentagon says the allies destroyed 97, along with six helicopters. In addition, 137 planes have taken sanctuary in Iran.
At the weekend cease-fire talks, the Iraqis requested they be allowed to move some of their aircraft within Iraq. Secretary of State James Baker said Sunday that the U.S. government had refused that request.
Baker admitted that the prohibition had a "collateral effect" of hindering Baghdad from fighting rebels but insisted that the U.S. aim was not to help topple Saddam's government.
Kurdish rebel leader Jalal Talabani has claimed that Iraqi government troops were using helicopters and warplanes to drop napalm and incendiary bombs on the northern cities of Karahanzeer and Shamshamal.
Another rebel spokesman said today that Iraqi helicopters and aircraft were bombarding the key northern city of Kirkurk, an oil-producing center less than 100 miles from Tikrit.
by CNB