HC Deb 06 June 2000 vol 351 cc168-71W
Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions coalition aircraft patrolling the northern no-fly zone in Iraq released ordnance between 1 April 1991 and 16 December 1998 and (b) 20 December 1998 to date, stating in percentage terms (i) the nature of the threat, (ii) the category of the target attacked and (iii) the tonnage of ordnance released on each category of target in proportion to the overall tonnage released in those periods. [122846]

Mr. Hoon

[holding answer 23 May 2000]I am withholding detailed information on the activities of other allies in accordance with Part II Section 1.c of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

The UK has never released ordnance over the northern no-fly zone.

Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions coalition aircraft patrolling(a) the northern and (b) the southern no-fly zone in Iraq hit targets other than the intended target between (i) 1 April 1991 and 16 December 1998 and (ii) 20 December 1998 to date, stating what percentage this formed of overall attacks during those periods. [122848]

Mr. Hoon

[holding answer 23 May 2000]The coalition only ever targets, in self-defence, Iraqi military facilities that pose a threat to its forces carrying out legitimate patrols of the no-fly zones. The coalition goes to exceptional lengths to ensure that the right target is hit, including the employment of very strict target clearance procedures and precision guided munitions. We conduct painstaking battle damage assessment after every bomb is dropped. For these reasons we are confident that, in the vast majority of cases, released ordnance by coalition aircraft lands on, or very close to, its intended target.

I am withholding detailed information on the activities undertaken by other allies in accordance with Part II Section 1.c of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

The UK has never released ordnance over the northern no-fly zone.

Between 1 April 1991 and 16 December 1998 UK aircraft released ordnance on two occasions. On both occasions all of the ordnance hit the intended targets. Since 20 December 1998, there have been two occasions when ordnance from UK aircraft appears to have hit unintended targets. The weapons released on these occasions represent 1 per cent. of the total tonnage of ordnance released by the UK over this period.

Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total tonnage of ordnance released by coalition aircraft in operations to maintain(a) the southern and (b) the northern no-fly-zones in Iraq between (i) 1 August 1992 and 16 December 1998 and (ii) 20 December 1998 to date; and what is the monthly average in each of these periods. [122844]

Mr. Hoon

[holding answer 23 May 2000]I am withholding detailed information on the activities of other allies in accordance with Part II Section 1.c of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Between 1 August 1992 and 16 December 1998, UK aircraft released 2.5 tons of ordnance over the southern no-fly zone at an average of 0.025 tons per month. We do not have sufficiently detailed records of coalition activity over this period to estimate what percentage of the coalition total this represents.

Between 20 December 1998 and 17 May 2000, UK aircraft released 78 tons of ordnance over the southern no-fly zones, at an average of 5 tons per month. This figure represents approximately 20 per cent. of the coalition total for this period.

The UK has never released ordnance over the northern no-fly zone.

Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of Iraqi civilians killed as a result of coalition aircraft responding to threats in(a) the northern and (b) the southern no-fly-zone in Iraq between (i) 1 April 1991 and 16 December 1998 and (ii) 20 December 1998 to date through (A) collateral damage, (B) attack on an unintended target and (C) malfunction of ordnance; and what percentage of attacks in the no-fly-zones resulted in civilian casualties in those periods. [122845]

Mr. Hoon

[holding answer 23 May 2000]The coalition only ever targets, in self-defence, Iraqi military facilities that pose a threat to its forces carrying out legitimate patrols of the no-fly zones. The coalition goes to exceptional lengths to ensure civilian casualties are kept to the absolute minimum possible, including the employment of very carefully controlled targeting procedures and precision guided munitions.

In practice, it is extremely difficult to give estimates of civilian casualties, despite the painstaking battle-damage assessment (BDA) that the coalition routinely carries out every time ordnance is released. However, we can demonstrate categorically that many of the Iraqi claims of civilian casualties are either exaggerated or wholly untrue. On a number of occasions the Iraqis have claimed that coalition aircraft have caused civilian casualties when allied aircraft have not released any munitions, or even been flying. The most recent example of this was on 17 May this year, when it seems very probable that the civilian casualties which the Iraqis claimed were caused by coalition activities, were in fact caused by an Iraqi air defence weapon. There have also been many instances when the Iraqis claimed civilians have been killed, where our BDA has clearly indicated that only military facilities were attacked.

Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions coalition aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly-zone in Iraq released ordnance between(a) 1 August 1992 and 16 December 1998 and (b) 20 December 1998 to date, stating in percentage terms (i) the nature of the threat, (ii) the category of the target attacked and (iii) the tonnage of ordnance released on each category of target in proportion to the overall tonnage released in those periods. [122847]

Mr. Hoon

[holding answer 23 May 2000]I am withholding detailed information on the activities undertaken by allies under Part II Section 1.c of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Between 1 August 1992 and 16 December 1998, UK aircraft released ordnance over the southern no-fly zone on two occasions. The nature of the threat on both occasions was hostile electronic activity. In both cases, ordnance was directed against elements of Iraq's Ground Based Air Defence Systems, posing a direct threat to coalition forces.

Between 20 December 1998 and 17 May 2000 coalition aircraft were directly threatened by the Iraqi air defence forces on over 320 occasions. Aircraft responded in self-defence on 74 occasions against Iraqi military facilities posing a direct threat to coalition forces. Details of these threats, broken down by percentage, are as follows:

Percentage
Nature of threat
Aircraft violations of southern no-fly zone 51
Anti-aircraft artillery/surface to air missile firings 45
Hostile electronic activity 4
Category of target attacked
Ground based air defence system 95
Other military systems posing a direct threat to coalition forces 5
Tonnage of weapons released
Ground based air defence system 92
Other military systems posing a direct threat to coalition forces 8

Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions the Commander for British Forces in charge of(a) Operation Bolton, (b) Operation Warden and (c) preceding operations to maintain the no-fly zones in Iraq has requested authority from his Department to attack a target between (i) 1 April 1991 and 16 December 1998 and (ii) 20 December 1998 to date, stating in each case (A) the date of request, (B) the category of the target, (C) whether authority was given and (D) whether the target was attacked. [122849]

Mr. Hoon

[holding answer 23 May 2000]Commanders of British Forces operating over the Iraqi no-fly zones receive a directive from CJO that gives them highly detailed levels of delegated authority for target clearance.

(a)(i) Between 1 April 1991 and 16 December 1998, the Commander of British Forces for Operations over the southern no-fly zone referred to the UK for authority to attack targets beyond his delegated authority on one occasion. This approval was granted. I am withholding further details of this operation under Part II Section 1.a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

(a)(ii) Between 20 December 1998 and 17 May 2000, the Commander of British Forces for Operation Bolton formally sought approval to attack targets beyond his delegated authority on four occasions. On each occasion approval was granted. I am withholding further details of this operation under Part II Section 1.a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

(b) The UK has never released ordnance over the northern no-fly zone.