ANKARA, Turkey -- U.S. warplanes bombed missile launchers in Iraq's northern no-fly zone on Wednesday, with American military officials calling them a threat to air patrols over the restricted zone. The strike brought to 47 the number of days this year that such bombings were reported by the United States and the United Kingdom coalition, whose mission is to patrol two zones set up to protect Iraqi minorities following the 1991 Gulf War.

Coalition planes targeted precision-guided weapons at an "imminently hostile surface-to-air missiles system" Iraqis had set up northwest of Mosul in the northern zone, said a statement from the U.S. European Command.

The system included two missile launchers, an official at the Pentagon said on condition of anonymity.