Iraq on Wednesday denied that there are Chinese technicians working in Iraq to boost its anti-aircraft defense as claimed by the United States, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

Jamil Ibrahim Ali, Iraqi secretary of state for transport and telecommunications, was quoted as saying that "there are no Chinese experts working in the field of telecommunications in Iraq.

"The claim made by the US are "cheap lies," he said.

An unidentified US defense official on Tuesday alleged that last week's US-British joint air strikes against Iraq were in part due to Chinese assistance for Iraq to install new underground fiber-optic cables to improve Iraq's air defense.

US and British warplanes bombed communication and controls sites against southern areas of the Iraqi capital last Friday night, killing two civilians and injuring at least 20 others.

This was also the first air strike against Iraq ordered by US President George W. Bush.

(Xinhua 02/21/2001)