News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		1-02-2005 The Scotsman Scots Guards sweep desert to thwart operation by insurgents By Gethin Chamberlain with the Scots Guards outside Basra AN entire British battlegroup was scrambled into action in southern Iraq last night after reports of a group of insurgents on the move south of Basra. More than 400 soldiers from the Scots Guards and Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment raced out of their bases to sweep an area of desert 40km square south of the Sunni town of Az Zubayr. The battle group poured into the area in Warrior armoured vehicles and armoured Land Rovers, while aircraft scoured the desert for signs of movement. The operation was a vivid demonstration of the warning last week from British commanders that they are prepared to use overwhelming force to prevent insurgents from wrecking the Iraqi election process. Despite the huge force deployed in last night's operation, the insurgents managed to slip away under cover of darkness, but British commanders say that they believe they disrupted the group's plans and sent a message to others that they were on their tails. Lieutenant Colonel Harry Nickerson, the commanding officer of the Scots Guards, said that they had reacted to a tip-off that a group of insurgents was moving through the area. "We deployed in strength," he said. "We are not mucking about. If we know someone is there we will go in with enough to completely overwhelm the odds. We have got it so we will use it." He said the insurgents were believed to have been armed and may have been carrying explosives. And he said that he was not disappointed that the operation had failed to capture those it had targeted. "If they are aware that we were looking for them they are aware that we are not far behind them," he said. "We are continuing to disrupt their operations and if we get another sniff of them we will go after them again. "These games of cat and mouse involve an awful lot of luck on either side. Of course we are happy if we get them but these things are often a long shot and it wouldn't do to get too disappointed." It was the second major operation mounted by the Scots Guards in the space of three days. On the eve of the election they raided four houses in Basra, seizing plastic explosives and thwarting a suspected plot to attack the elections.
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