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Anti-Saddam riots in Basra
25/03/2003 20:12 - (SA)
Baghdad - Rioting is taking place in Basra by locals opposed to President Saddam Hussein, reports say.
Sky says Iraqi troops are reported to be firing on the rioters with mortars in an attempt to crush the uprising.
British forces are firing back at the Iraqi positions with heavy artillery, reports say.
They said they have dropped a bomb on the ruling Ba'ath Party HQ. Two large explosions have been heard in the city centre.
Reporter Richard Gaisford, who is with troops near Basra, said British intelligence officers there told him about the civil uprising.
He said the officers said intelligence from the city suggested that local people had indicated they would welcome the Allied forces but were in fear of Saddam loyalists.
"Now it seems they have had the courage to stand up to Saddam Hussein and his regime and they will be supported by British forces," Gaisford said.
Gaisford said British troops were preparing to enter the city centre when daw breaks in Iraq.
Earlier, British military sources said about 20 of Saddam Hussein's henchmen were killed and a key party official captured in a night-time raid by British forces near Basra.
Soldiers from the 7th Armoured Brigade - the Desert Rats - raided a regional Ba'ath Party headquarters in Al Zubayr, near Basra, where there has been fierce resistance from Iraqi troops, the source said.
They moved in on the complex in the early hours with the aim of capturing the high-ranking party figure.
He was guarded by members of Saddam's Special Security Organisation and fanatical Fedayeen fighters loyal to the Iraqi president, the source at the Coalition Command HQ in Qatar said.
The Desert Rats surrounded the building with Challenger 2 tanks before the lightning raid.
As the British soldiers swooped, a fierce gunfight broke out and dozens of Iraqis were hit. There were no British casualties.
The senior party figure, thought to be responsible for helping organise resistance in the Al Zubayr and Basra area, was successfully snatched and taken prisoner.
A military source said the Ba'ath Party officials in Al Zubayr were terrorising the local population.
British commanders also want to separate the political and military leaders of Saddam's regime.
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