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March 29, The Sun 'IRAQI GUNS RAKED THE FLEEING CROWD...TILL THE BRITS FIRED BACK' GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN of The Scotsman, on the outskirts of Basra THE crowd was halfway across the concrete and steel span of the bridge when the mortar rounds started falling on the Basra side. Men, women and children screamed as they ran to escape machine gun fire coming from the Iraqi positions. Two thousand people running for their lives. A young woman falling, hit by shrapnel, as a pick-up truck broke cover and charged, the machine gun 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 truck was blown apart, the three people in it killed in an instant. Around the British positions, mortar shells were falling, the Black Watch firing back. Those in the crowd who had made it safely across the bridge, hands raised as they ran towards the British troops, ducked for cover as the British guns moved round to cover their escape. Then they began moving along the road in the direction of Al Zubayr. They may take shelter there or camp out in the countryside around. A young woman, badly hurt, was plucked to safety by a British vehicle and driven back across the lines. Others were also injured and medics rushed to tend their wounds. 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 for what seemed an age before releasing their missiles, guiding them into the target on the other side of the Shatt Al Basrah canal, then tilting over and peeling away. On the canal's Iraqi side, the missiles struck two positions manned by the Fedayeen militia holding out in the besieged city. In the turret of his Warrior armoured vehicle, Black Watch commanding officer Lt Col Mike Riddell-Webster raced back to the British positions on the west side of the bridge. Radio crackling with reports from his unit, the Warrior rattled to a halt. The crowd had appeared at about 8am, clearly desperate to flee the city, he says. 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, 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. "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, which was a bit close. "The civilians wanted to get out and away. Most are heading for Al Zubayr and farms around there. But they are not really aware of what is going on in the town so we think many of them will camp in the fields. "They want to get away but when they 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 ruling Ba'ath Party." On the far side of the bridge, 200 or more civilians who could not get across sheltered on either side of the road, terrified of moving in case they too come under fire. Behind them, back inside the city, huge plumes of black smoke drifted eastwards from the fire pits filled with oil lit by the Iraqi defenders. Across a flat landscape, across the oily lagoons of stagnant water lying beside the canal, people could be seen scurrying for better cover. Above them, the sky was blue but tinged with grey nearer the skyline from the clouds of smoke hanging over the city. The smell of burning oil hung in the air. Inside the British compound, Warrior armoured vehicles kept their guns trained on the opposite bank, but the Iraqi guns had fallen silent. Lines started to move back across the bridge again in both directions. People coming back from Al Zubayr were passing those determined to get out of Basra at the centre of the span, where a Warrior stood guard. A Challenger tank rumbled past heading over towards Basra, covering the Iraqi positions with its weapons. In a sandbagged observation post littered with spent bullet cases at the edge of the bridge, Major Lindsay MacDuff had been watching the breakout. As forward air controllers guided the helicopters in towards their targets, he recalled that it was the second time the Iraqis had opened fire on their own people trying to escape the city. The militia have been there for days, he says, niggling away at the British positions, using maybe eight vehicles with mortars and machine guns mounted on the back, each manned by two or three men. The Major adds: "Yesterday afternoon we were about to do a raid and there was a log-jam of people coming over the bridge and 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. Their ability to get the rounds where they want them to is more than just down to chance, so they are clearly aiming at them. "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." Major MacDuff has been camped out on the edge of Basra for five days, organising raids designed to sap the resistance of the gunmen and encourage the civilians to rise up against the Iraqi regime. Inside the compound, now nicknamed Camp Keltie by the troops, they tear down any pictures of Saddam Hussein they find - Major MacDuff taking personal charge of demolishing one mural, ploughing his Warrior into the brickwork, smashing it to pieces. He believes the civilians are eager for the British troops to enter the city, but are still too scared of the Iraqi regime to take action. He goes on: "We're keen to go into Basra but the conditions haven't yet been achieved." As he speaks, people are now moving freely across the bridge, running when they hear the sound of fresh firing as the British positions target the militia again. Major MacDuff says even those who want the British to enter the city are facing terrible pressure to continue the resistance. "Tribal elders are being coerced into action against us with the help of a gun to the head. The regime is working on fear and the catalyst for overcoming that fear is different for everyone. "I'm not sure what makes people collectively decide that it is time to take action themselves. But I think their understanding of us is jaundiced because of their regime." So the British are using interpreters to try to explain their position and they hope the military activity against the militia forces is sending out the same message. Major MacDuff adds: "We've got to try to meet their needs. I would want to set up an aid post here to give them food and water but they would be a target for fire. Until we can make it safe we can't do it." As the CO's Warrior roars away, the helicopters clatter into the distance. In the British positions they start planning the next strike, determined to KO the gunmen prepared to fire on their own people. Those gunmen, they believe, are all that prevents the people of the city from rising up and welcoming in the troops camped at their gates.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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