April 7, 2003	Monday	Safar 4, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

BASRA, April 6: British tanks rolled into the centre of Basra on Sunday and surrounded the local Baath Party headquarters, effectively taking control of Iraq’s southern metropolis, military officials said.

“We control the vast majority of the city,” British military spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon said in Kuwait. “But there are some places we don’t control, for example the old city.”

Col Vernon told reporters that British tanks had moved into the city centre, the south and the north.

Three British soldiers were killed in action on Sunday during a major push into centre of the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the British defence ministry said in London.

The deaths take the total of British serviceman to die since the war began on March 20 to 30.

At least 300 Fedayeen militia fighters were estimated to have died in clashes over two days as the British surged forward, a senior officer claimed.

Col Hugh Blackman, of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, said around 150 Iraqis were killed on Saturday during fierce exchanges with his men and at least the same number died during Sunday’s assault, with only “a couple of dozen” taken alive.

As the troops and tanks made their way towards the centre, locals poured out into the streets to greet their advance, many of them waving and cheering, others standing silently on pavements as the tanks passed.

Many houses had raised the white flag of surrender.

By late afternoon, the British forces had surrounded the local Baath Party headquarters in the heart of the city, a reporter for the Arabic language Al-Jazeera television station in the city reported.

There had been little sign of resistance, the paramilitary fighters who had been holding the area having apparently disappeared as the troops advanced. Col Blackman said: “We leaned on the door and it burst open. This has been a crucial day.”

He added: “The enemy have not been surrendering in large numbers — they have been fighting and dying, but that is their choice.”

The raid began when the so-called Desert Rats, from Britain’s 7th Armoured Brigade, sent tanks and troops into the city, backed by US Cobra helicopter gun-ships and artillery, and blitzed a crucial Fedayeen HQ in a dawn raid.

Col Blackman said pro-Saddam forces “have fought hard and have been cunning and tenacious in the face of superior firepower.

“They have been using a series of ruses but have so far failed to inflict any casualties on our forces.

“There have been instances where Fedayeen fighters wearing the black suits and red head-dresses have picked up a child to give themselves cover after firing at us.

“As we advanced into Basra today they favoured a new tactic — playing dead.

“There were several instances where we passed what appeared to be bodies lying in bunker positions only for them to spring up and attack us after we passed by.

“That led to us taking no chances as the day wore on when we were confronted with that situation.”

KARBALA: US forces secured the city of Karbala and killed about 400 Iraqi paramilitary soldiers during two days of intense fighting, 101st Airborne Division spokesman Major Hugh Cate claimed on Sunday.

Major Cate said the division’s 2nd Brigade had gained control of the strategically important holy city on Sunday after crushing resistance from about 500 Iraqi soldiers.

He said fewer than 100 Iraqis had been taken prisoner while almost all the rest were killed in the battle, which involved intense house-to-house operations to find the soldiers.

A gunshot killed one US soldier on Saturday, while at least eight others were injured, according to Major Cate.

He said many Iraqi soldiers hid inside the local headquarters of Saddam’s ruling Baath party, which was destroyed, while others fought from residential areas.

US soldiers on the ground also uncovered “huge amounts” of weapons and ammunition, including small arms and mines, in schools and other sensitive areas, Major Cate said.

However, he said the soldiers had not sought refuge in mosques and other religiously significant areas, a tactic they had reportedly used in a similar battle in nearby Najaf.—AFP