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Brits forced to retreat
24/03/2003 19:00 - (SA)
Basra - Fierce Iraqi resistance - including attacks by irregular forces pretending to surrender and the use of women and children as decoys - forced British troops to withdraw on Monday from Basra to regroup, British military officials said.
Elements of Britain's Seventh Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, withdrew from the southern Iraqi city - the nation's second largest - after coming under attack by mortars and guerrillas disguised in civilian clothes.
The brigade had at one point surrounded the city.
Military officials admitted they had vastly underestimated the strength of Iraqi resistance and the loyalty of Basra's population to the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"We're currently taking stock of the situation. We were expecting a lot of hands up from Iraqi soldiers and for the humanitarian operation in Basra to begin fairly quickly behind us, with aid organisations providing food and water to the locals," Captain Patrick Trueman said.
"But it hasn't quite worked out that way.
"There are significant elements in Basra who are hugely loyal to the regime. Their loyalty is rewarded with a better standard of living than most, so they don't want to give it up easily."
US and British forces were having a tough time taming Iraqi resistance in the country's southeast, outside Basra and the key deep-water port of Umm Qasr. Planners had expected little resistance
Military planners had expected little resistance in the region because they thought the Shi'ite Muslim majority long repressed by the Sunnis from the north would be glad to be rid of Saddam.
"We always had the idea that everyone in this area hated Saddam. Clearly, there are a number who don't," Trueman said.
The decision to withdraw came after British units came under fierce mortar fire as they blocked the main routes into the city from the north and south.
Military leaders also were concerned that members of Saddam's Fedayeen, a militia controlled by Saddam's elder son Uday, had lured British troops into danger by pretending to surrender and by using women and children as decoys.
Members of the Fedayeen have taken to disguising themselves in civilian clothes, mixing with families then emerging from crowds to fire on the coalition forces, military officials said.
They were also concerned the Iraqis might use a captured British vehicle as a car bomb.
Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera television reported bombardment of southern Basra, showing columns of smoke rising from the city.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the house of commons on Monday that the international airport of Basra had been "made secure".
- AFX
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