Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhu Bangzao made the remark in response to a request for comments on the US and British air raids on February 16 on targets south of Baghdad, which caused casualties to civilians.

Zhu said: "We condemn the air attacks launched by the United States and Britain against Iraq, and express deep regret over the deaths and injuries of innocent civilians resulting from the action."

He said China has always maintained that Iraq's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence should be respected.

The US and British bombing in Iraq will harm the international community's efforts to solve the issue of Iraq, he said.

The spokesman called on the United States and Britain to stop their military actions in Iraq immediately to create a favourable atmosphere for the upcoming dialogue between Iraq and the UN secretary-general.

Meanwhile, Iraq has vowed revenge for the air strikes, which it said killed two civilians.

President Saddam Hussein and his top aides discussed plans for military retaliation in the event of a repeat of Friday's attack, the first major raid against Iraq conducted under new US President George W. Bush, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) quoted a military spokesman as saying.

INA said Saddam discussed the "American aggression and the military measures and plans that should be taken to retaliate against America and those who render facilities to it in case the aggression is repeated."

The agency said Saddam ordered the formation of 21 military divisions consisting of Iraqis who volunteered to fight with Palestinians in their uprising against the Israelis that began last September.

France, a member of the Gulf War coalition that ended Iraq's 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait, said it wanted an explanation for the first Western air strike near Baghdad in over two years, adding such assaults hindered efforts to solve the Iraq problem.

The Arab League said the assault had broken international law and would stoke anger across the Arab world.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the attacks proved that Washington and London relied on force in a policy that "worsens an already explosive situation in the Middle East and the Gulf."

President Vladimir Putin said air strikes did nothing to settle the situation around Iraq and urged any action taken against it to be sanctioned by the United Nations.

Turkey reproached NATO-ally Washington for not informing it beforehand and said it hoped the raids would not be repeated. Syria and radical Palestinian groups also condemned the attacks and Gulf Arab Qatar said they were regrettable.

A Spanish foreign affairs spokesman said that at no stage had Spain and other European allies been informed of the raid.

Baghdad's official press reacted furiously to the attacks.

"The Americans' and Britons' new, savage crime will not pass unpunished and without decisive retaliation," the official Qadissiya newspaper said in a front-page editorial.

"We will teach the new American administration and the Zionist entity (Israel) lessons on Jihad (holy war) and steadfastness," it said.

Several hundred Iraqis and Palestinians living in Iraq marched in Baghdad streets protesting against the raids.

"We will fight them in the air, on land and sea and their aggression will achieve nothing but failure," said an official statement after a meeting of Iraqi leaders chaired by Saddam.

(China Daily 02/19/2001)