Iraq yesterday said that a Western airstrike killed 23 people during a soccer game – but U.S. officials blamed an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile.
The Iraqi News Agency said the victims, ages 4 to 30, were at a soccer field near the northern city of Mosul when they were blitzed by warplanes.
It said 11 others were injured in what would be the bloodiest confrontation in the area in more than two years.
But the Pentagon said U.S. and British warplanes were on routine patrol over Iraq’s no-fly zone when Saddam Hussein’s forces fired several surface-to-air missiles at them – and at least one apparently malfunctioned and landed on the field.