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March 26, 2003, The Express DAWN RAID OF THE SNATCH SQUAD From Gethin Chamberlain with the Black Watch IT was just after dawn yesterday when the Warrior crashed through the perimeter wall of a house tucked away in a side road in the Iraqi town of Al Zubayr. Bricks flying everywhere, it plunged on straight into the side of the house. By the time those inside realised what was happening, it was too late. British troops were swarming through what was left of the two-storey building, determined that their quarry would not escape. The man they were hunting, a leading Ba'ath party official, was suspected of involvement in an attack on a Land Rover carrying two Royal Engineers a couple of days earlier. Neither man has been seen since. A fierce firefight broke out with militia men in neighbouring houses. Bullets and rocket-propelled grenades flew through the air, but the men of D Company of the Black Watch had come in strength. With rounds ricocheting off the ground in front of them, they poured out of their armoured vehicles, hitting the ground running and letting fly with everything in their armoury. Rifles, grenades, the Warriors' 30mm main guns, chain guns and even an anti-tank missile were turned on the defenders. Within minutes, at least seven Iraqis were dead and many more lay wounded. Lance Corporal Colin Edwards, 19, heart pounding, was giving the Iraqi defenders everything he had got. A few moments earlier, the soldier from Dundee had been sitting nervously in the back of his Warrior, listening to the commander running through the final instructions for the attack. "As soon as we jumped out, the chain gun was going, " he said. "There were small arms rounds bouncing off the ground right in front of us but we were firing away at them too, trying to keep their heads down. Everything was going in - grenades, Warriors laying down 30mm fire, anti-tank weapons." Inside the lead Warrior was Major Douggie Hay, who had masterminded the operation. Grabbing the man they were seeking, the soldiers bundled him into the back of the Warrior half buried beneath the shattered brickwork of the living-room wall. With the engine screaming, the driver slammed into reverse and they were off. British military spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon said: "He was sitting there in his little building thinking great, have a good evening, have a good morning, then whack we're in, whack he's out and 20 of them are gone, just like that."
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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