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29-3-2003 PA News Basra The following is a pooled despatch from Gethin Chamberlain, of The Scotsman, on the outskirts of Basra. It's 6am and Basra is burning, black clouds of oily smoke drifting over the city to the east, the sound of gunfire rolling across the canal. The television mast that dominated the skyline is gone and many of the militia men who have tormented the British troops laying siege to the city and fired on their own people as they tried to flee lie dead. For the last 15 minutes the city has been rocked by huge explosions as the Challenger tanks and Warrior armoured vehicles of the Black Watch battle group launched a dramatic push into the city, fighting their way through a barrage of mortar fire and rocket propelled grenades to a position 4km inside the city limits, the furthest forward they have ventured so far. From the base of where the tower stood there are flashes of orange flame as shells explode and tracer rounds fired from the British positions on the opposite bank arc slowly overhead, glowing red as they dip towards their targets. On the Iraqi side of the Shatt Al Basrah canal, two sudden, violent explosions as mortars open up on the armoured vehicles standing guard over the approaches to the bridge. Even on the far side of the canal, the shock waves take the breath away, but the mortar positions are quickly silenced. Just an hour after Iraqi fighters took the British troops by surprise and sent them diving for cover under their vehicles with a sneak rocket attack on what had been thought to be a secure base camp, the Black Watch was exacting its revenge. That this morning's thrust into Basra had been planned for hours did not matter: they had survived a very close shave and someone was going to pay. With their commanding officer Lt Col Mike Riddell-Webster in the turret of his Warrior in the thick of the action, they race into the town across the bridge, Challenger tanks leading the way, Warriors fanning out behind them covering their rear. Explosions echo around the city as they advance, firing at the gunmen who pop up from their dug in positions to take them on. From every direction comes the sound of gunfire, but exposed to the heavy guns of the British vehicles, and struggling to make an impact on their armour, the defenders are fighting a losing battle. Manning the gun in the turret of his Warrior, Lee Webb is relishing the chance of action, savouring the adrenaline rush, eager to find new targets for the crew's 30mm gun. High on the excitement of battle, it does not pay to get in his way. Everywhere he looks, there are Iraqis shooting at him, men on roofs firing rocket propelled grenades, Iraqi gunmen leaning out of windows to open up with their AK47s. Each time the turret swivels round and there is one less threat to worry about. Up ahead, the Challengers are pinpointing their targets, 120mm guns swinging round and taking aim. A massive statue of Saddam Hussein is blown to smithereens, shattering as the high explosive rounds detonate on impact. "We went in in the first attack with the tanks in front of us and the other call signs (the Warriors) to the right and left of us," he says. "We were three quarters of the way across the bridge when the RPGs started coming in, hitting the front of the wagons. "We locked on and then we engaged them with HE (high explosive rounds). "There were guys on the roofs firing on the tanks, guys with AKs, people everywhere, popping out of windows. There were RPGs crossing in front of us, guys popping up from lookout towers. "There were still RPGs coming in, so we started firing into them. On the outskirts we saw five or six camouflage nets covering their positions about 100 metres away and we hit them too. Three guys popped up from a sandbagged hole and we hit them with the chain gun." For the 21 year old from Rosyth, it is his first real taste of action. "The adrenaline was pumping, all I could think about was just looking for the next target," he says. "We stayed there for maybe five or 10 minutes. We blew up some fuel tanks next to one of the bunkers and that took out the bunker as well, then we took out a big Saddam face painted on a wall." Nearby is Sgt Dougie Dunbar, whose Warrior is covering the advancing tanks as they head towards the TV tower. "The road was about five kilometres long and there were bunkers and trenches all along, so it was obviously a well prepared position," says the 40-year-old Aberdonian. "It's my first stint over the bridge facing the mortar attacks and artillery and that's when you start to realise it's real." As the first wave heads back over the bridge to the relative safety of the far bank, the statue of Saddam is in ruins. It is the key target of the whole raid, a target which offers an intriguing insight into the way the British are tackling the problems posed by Basra. During the first Gulf War a tank commander returning to the city fired a shot at the statue, and the lack of any reaction to such an act of defiance is credited with triggering the start of the uprising in the south. The British hope that their action may have a similar effect, showing to the civilian population that the Iraqi regime is losing its grip on the city. But daring though the raid is, they still have a mountain to climb to avoid the dreaded prospect of street fighting. Even in the satellite town of Az Zubayr, 20km to the south west, they have struggled to break down the dogged resistance of the militia men, despite daily raids on their strongholds. While the majority of the local population have given them a guarded welcome, they have continued to face daily attacks from irregular forces in civilian clothes, who appear without warning to launch their rocket propelled grenades into positions the British believed to be secure. Reports from within Basra suggest they face an even more stubborn resistance, with Saddam Hussein apparently determined not to let the coalition forces establish a firm grip on the south of the country. Intelligence sources suggest that at least 18 people have been executed in the past few days as the regime battles to assert its control over the civilian population. The dead include civilians, soldiers and the tribal leader Rahim Bezoni, all killed for refusing to back the fight against the British forces attacking the city. The man leading the fightback, (CHECK NAME) - known as Chemical Ali - is said to have ordered soldiers to sign up every day to promise to fight on. Drafted in to bolster the resistance and to retake the south of the country, he is believed to have brought with him 500 men from a special security guard based in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, placing two of them with each military commander with orders to shoot him if he shows signs of being willing to capitulate. As the sun rises higher over the bridge, struggling to break through the billowing clouds of black smoke, the remaining tanks and the other armoured vehicles begin to roll back over the bridge. The internal security building in the city is a burning ruin, smoke pouring from the wreckage. A few puffs of black smoke and the occasional explosion indicate that there are still those in the city determined to fight on, or too frightened to stop, but it is another blow to the morale of the defenders, and the British hope, another sign to those living in fear of that regime that the army camped on their doorstep offers them the chance of liberation, rather than subjugation. end
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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