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29-3-2003 Mirror GULF WAR 2: TERROR AS IRAQIS FIRE ON KIDS OF BASRA: RUNNING FROM THE GUNS By GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN in Basra, southern Iraq THE crowd was halfway across the concrete and steel span of the bridge when the mortar rounds started falling. Terrified men, women and children fleeing Basra yesterday ran screaming to escape machine-gun fire from the Iraqi positions. A thousand people, maybe more, raced for their lives. A young woman fell, hit by shrapnel, as a pick-up truck broke cover and charged forward, the machine gun mounted on its roof spewing bullets at the crowd. On the British side, a tank lurched forward, the gunner training his sights on the truck a few hundred yards ahead. One shot and the Iraqi truck was blown apart, the three people in it killed in an instant. The Black Watch fired back as mortar shells fell around the British positions. At last the civilians made it safely across the bridge, hands raised as they ran towards the British troops, ducking as the British guns moved round to cover their escape. They began moving along the road in the direction of Al Zubayr. They may take shelter there or camp out in the countryside. A young woman, badly hurt, was plucked to safety by a British vehicle and driven back across the lines. Medics rushed to tend the wounds of others caught in the fire. Then came the clatter of rotor blades and two Lynx helicopters appeared, hovering over to the right, just visible between the concrete pillars holding up the bridge. They hung stationary in the air before releasing their missiles, guiding them into the target on the other side of the Shatt Al Basrah canal, then peeling away. On the Iraqi side of the canal, the missiles struck two positions manned by the Sadayeen Hussein, the militia holding out in the besieged city. In the turret of his Warrior armoured vehicle, Lt Col Mike Riddell-Webster, commanding officer of the Black Watch, raced back to the British positions. The crowd had appeared at about 8am, he said, desperate to flee the city. British tanks had held them at the far bank before the decision was taken to let them cross. "We gave permission for them to come through, but there was no firing then," he said. "The people were overjoyed when we let them through. They were blowing kisses and waving their hands in thanks. "As they came across the bridge, the Iraqis opened up with 50mm mortar fire from the southern edge of an estate near the bridge. The intent was clearly to stop their own people moving across. "Then a pick-up with a machine gun mounted on the back came down the road and opened fire on our troops and the civilians. The machine gun was firing into the crowd. One of our tanks fired back and destroyed it. Any time we moved between our vehicles, more fire came in, hitting the vehicles. One of our lads had a bullet rip through his smock. "When people came across the bridge, they had their hands up. They were scared of us as well. They don't know what is going on, but they are more scared of the Ba'ath Party." On the far side of the bridge, 200 or more civilians who could not get across sheltered beside the road, too terrified to move. Behind them, back in the city, huge plumes of black smoke drifted eastwards from the fire pits filled with oil lit by the Iraqi defenders. Across oily lagoons of stagnant water beside the canal, people scurried for better cover. In a sandbagged observation post littered with spent bullet cases at the edge of the bridge, Major Lindsay MacDuff said it was the second time the Iraqis had opened fire on their own people trying to escape the city. He said: "On Thursday afternoon the Iraqis fired mortars at us and at the civilians, but this is the first time they have just tried to target the civilians alone. "We can shelter in our vehicles, but we can't get all the civilians in. You can't get 200 people in the back of a Warrior." The thud of British mortars punctuated his words. There was a last defiant rattle of automatic fire from the enemy, then their weapons fell silent. Major MacDuff has been camped out on the edge of Basra for five days, organising the raids designed to sap the resistance of the gunmen and encourage the civilian population to rise up against the Iraqi regime. "We're keen to go in but we haven't got the orders to go," he explained. The major said local people are being frightened into continuing the resistance. "The population is forced to supply manpower for the militia by literally having a gun placed at their relatives' heads. They either play ball or lose their nearest and dearest. "We only hope the message gets through that we are here to offer them a lifeline." Not far away, an Iraqi brother and sister were scarred for life by razor-sharp shrapnel in the village where they had been playing. They were treated by the RAF's tactical medical team after coming under fire by unknown forces. The five-year-old boy had serious chest wounds and a large cut over his right eye. The two-year-old girl had stitches to her left leg.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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