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March 28, 2003, Press Association The following is a pooled despatch from Gethin Chamberlain of The Scotsman, with the Black Watch near Basra British troops in the town of Az Zubayr have found a chil- dren's health centre which has been taken over by the Iraqi militia and converted into an armoury. Boxes of children's medicines, enough for 10,000 treatments, were discovered lying unopened next to rooms packed with rocket propelled grenades, AK47 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammu- nition. British military commanders believe that the clinic had been taken over by the local Baath party and militia men. They spotted armed men leaving the building yesterday morning and it was quickly stormed by armoured units. Militia men have launched a series of attacks on British sol- diers in the town, which have resulted in two deaths, and it is thought that Thursday's attack on a site used for humanitarian aid distribution was launched from the health clinic. Intelligence has suggested that an al-Qaeda cell may be oper- ating in the town and yesterday one prisoner told British officers that suicide attacks were being planned on aid convoys. British troops have also been warned to be aware that militia men are targeting tank and Warrior commanders by stretching cheesewire across streets in the town at their head height. The discovery that the children's health centre had been converted into a military headquarters has shocked British troops in the town. Lt-Col Kevin Beaton, the senior medical officer for the British battle group, said there were hundreds of unopened boxes of medicine and medical equipment, intended for the children of the town, lying unopened in their boxes. "There are kids that need this stuff now, kids with chest infections and thread-worms that need this stuff today. "I think it is a crime that it has just been sitting here," he said. Lt Col Mike Riddell-Webster, the commanding officer of the Black Watch, said he now wanted to get the medicine out to the children who needed it. "We'll get it back into circulation somehow, preferably with the message that this is what their regime has been sitting on." The entrance to the medical centre was guarded by a network of slit trenches and a 30mm anti-aircraft gun on the roof. Inside, the front of the building had been converted into Baath party offices, decorated on every wall with pictures of Saddam Hussein and his sons. Weapons were found in several rooms next door to stocks of medicines, some of which were marked "United Nations IRAQ account". Corridors leading to the rear of the building, containing most of the medical equipment and abandoned waiting rooms and treatment rooms, had been bricked up but British troops were able to enter through holes smashed in the masonry. On the walls of consulting rooms were Unicef posters and Iraqi Red Crescent Society material. Children's medical records were piled up on shelves in the abandoned rooms. Other rooms contained school books, some decorated with pictures from the movie The Lion King. The shelves of medicine boxes were stocked with boxes of antibiotics and paedeatric medicines, including ampicilin - which is used to treat pneumonia in children - folic acid for pregnant women and tapeworm treatments. There were 500 eye ointments, 1000 bottles of a Calpol equivalent and thousands of needles and syringes. Major Douggie Hay, whose men found the clinic, said they made the discovery after a tip- off that it was being used as a Baath party headquarters. He said reconnaisance revealed men going into and out of the building carrying weapons and he decided to launch an immediate attack. Three Iraqis were killed in the raid. "We reckon this was some sort of Unicef distribution point or health clinic, and if that is true, the storage of weapons there is a breach of the Geneva convention," he said. "It had been taken over by the Baath party and they had filled it with weaponry. "I believe this is where they mounted the attack on us from yesterday." Major Hay also said that more information had been received from prisoners about possible al-Qaeda activity in the town. The discovery of the health clinic came on a day in which Iraqi militia men in Basra fired on more than 1,000 people fleeing the city over a bridge leading to the west. British troops returned fire and a tank destroyed a pick-up truck, armed with a machine gun mounted on the back, which was firing on the crowd. |
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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