Seven Iraqis wounded in U.S.-British airstrikes in southern Ira

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Seven Iraqi civilians were injured in U.S. air raids in southern Iraq on Saturday, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

The unidentified spokesman said warplanes bombed "civil and service installations" 211 miles south of Baghdad, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

The Iraqi spokesman said seven civilians were wounded, but did not elaborate on the extent of their injuries.

The warplanes left Iraqi skies after being challenged by Iraq's "courageous ground resistance," the report added.

A statement by U.S. Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida said allied aircraft fired "precision-guided weapons to strike air defense facilities at approximately 3:50 a.m. EDT."

The strikes were launched after Iraqi air defense units fired on coalition aircraft, the statement said.

U.S. and British warplanes monitoring "no fly" zones over southern and northern Iraq regularly attack Iraqi military facilities. The zones were established shortly after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurdish and Shiite Muslim groups.

Iraq frequently tries to shoot down allied planes as it considers the zones violations of Iraqi sovereignty.