| Spy Plane Shot Down |
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| Iraq has shot down a second unmanned American spy plane in the southern no-fly zone. |
The Pentagon confirmed it had lost contact with the reconnaissance Predator drone which had been on a mission in southern Iraq.
"We have lost control of the aircraft. We no longer have a data link," said Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman.
Spy data
Iraq claimed it had shot the aircraft down hours before the Pentagon revealed it had lost touch with the drone during one of its patrols.
Last month another Predator was shot down by Iraq's air defence crews.
The aircraft fly slowly over the zone they are observing and beam live information back to mission control centres.
British and American warplanes have stepped up attacks in the no-fly zones which were set up after the Gulf War to protect Kurds in the north and marsh Arabs in the south.
Dangerous mission
So far no manned aircraft have been shot down but the US has warned the chances of this happening have increased as Saddam rebuilds his air defence systems.
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