News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		March 29, 2003, The Scotsman WEAPONS DISCOVERED NEXT TO MEDICINE IN CHILDREN'S CLINIC Gethin Chamberlain BRITISH troops in the town of Az Zubayr have found a children's health centre that has been taken over by the Iraqi militia and converted into an armoury. Enough children's medicine for 10,000 treatments was found unopened next to rooms packed with rocket-propelled grenades, AK47 rifles and ammunition. British commanders were tipped off that the clinic had been taken over by Baath Party and militiamen. Troops stormed the building after armed men were seen leaving yesterday morning. Militiamen have launched a series of attacks on British soldiers in the town, and it is thought Thursday's assault on a site used to distribute humanitarian aid was launched from the clinic. Intelligence suggests an al-Qaeda cell might be operating in the town, and yesterday one prisoner told British officers suicide attacks were being planned on aid convoys. Troops have also been warned militiamen are targeting tank and Warrior commanders by stretching cheesewire across streets at head height. Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Beaton, senior medical officer for the British battle group, said the clinic contained medical equipment and hundreds of unopened boxes of medicine. He said: "There are kids with chest infections and thread worms that need this stuff now. I think it is a crime it has just been sitting here." The entrance to the centre was guarded by slit trenches and a 30mm anti -aircraft gun on the roof. Inside, weapons were found in rooms next door to medicines, some of them marked "United Nations IRAQ account". Corridors to the rear of the building, containing medical equipment and abandoned treatment rooms, had been bricked up but British troops smashed through. Aid agency posters were on the walls of consulting rooms and children's medical records were piled up on shelves. Major Douggie Hay, whose men found the clinic, said: "We reckon this was some sort of UNICEF distribution point or health clinic. If that is true, the storage of weapons is a breach of the Geneva convention."
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