"Our units in the north have been shot at by small arms fire, 50-calibre (weaponry), then mortar fire," Brigadier General Abdul Rahman Mohammed al-Othman told journalists.

"The clash was still going on," Al-Othman said.

No casualties were reported.

Iraq fired a total of six Scud missiles into northern Kuwait Thursday, two of them intercepted by the anti-missile Patriot batteries deployed in the tiny Gulf kingdom to prevent Iraq's missile attacks.

Sirens sounded repeatedly in the kingdom Thursday and explosions could be heard in the northern part as Scud missiles landed in northern Kuwait, hours after the US-British forces launched a predawn attack on Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2003)