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UK's first soldier killed in riot
25/03/2003 08:17 - (SA)
Near Basra - The first British soldier to die in combat since the Iraq war began was shot near Basra during a riot, officers said, as the operation to take the southern capital became bogged down.
The man, who has not been named, was hit on Sunday evening during attempts to calm rioting Iraqi civilians and died of his wounds on Monday.
Officers said that the shooting occurred during a "civil disturbance in the Basra area", but declined to give further details.
Two British soldiers who disappeared on Sunday after their Land Rover was ambushed by Iraqi fighters using a rocket-propelled grenade, in the town of al Zubayr, just west of Basra, remained missing on Monday night.
No trace had been found of their vehicle and it was feared the pair have been either captured or killed.
Serious pockets of resistance have been met in al Zubayr.
The British ministry of defence refused to comment further on either incident, citing the need to contact next-of-kin and maintain operational confidentiality with respect to missing persons.
British commanders were considering calling in paratroopers and Royal Marine Commandos to assist the battle for Basra after acknowledging it might be necessary to engage in street combat to secure the city.
The decision to contemplate reinforcements came as the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, which is spearheading the drive to Basra, continued to face stiff opposition, both at the edges of the city and beyond.
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, one of four Desert Rats battle groups, were forced to retreat about 15km to avoid a potential ambush by Republican Guards, who were reported to be heading out of Basra in civilian clothes in an attempt to kill British troops in a surprise attack.
Artillery shells were fired into the city, where 1 000 Iraqi fighters are believed to be sheltering, some using civilian buildings as bases.
Elsewhere, sporadic attacks by non-uniformed paramilitaries continue, with gunfire, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades all reported to be posing a threat.
Continuing resistance to British forces in southern Iraq means that an advance into Basra, which it had been hoped would be completed as early as Monday, might now be delayed by several days or even longer.
"It looks like being a lot tougher than we thought... Basra is a divisional operation now, not just 7th Armoured Brigade," said one officer.
Another added: "If Basra is not a benign environment we are going to need more infantry to go in."
Major Charlie Lambert, the second-in-command of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards battle group, said the difficulties were caused by Iraqi renegades dressed as civilians who were "not playing by the rules".
"This is a moment for all our commanders to keep a very cool and calm head and concentrate on the task of ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"When people don't play by the rule book, it is very easy to make things very difficult for a much larger force which does play by the rules," Major Lambert.
"A person with a rocket-propelled grenade or machine gun sneaking up on us and then disappearing into the night is difficult to deal with. It is what we are used to from the Balkans and Northern Ireland so it is not a new concept, but it bound to slow us up."
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq began on Thursday, 14 British marines and naval air crew have died in two helicopter accidents, while two Royal Air Force crew died when their Tornado bomber was hit by a US missile.
- AFX
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