A rchive Date
[ 24-06-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/06/24/118680.html
British soldiers killed in Iraq
By STEVEN GUTKIN
Tue, June 24, 2003
BAGHDAD (AP) - Six British soldiers died while training police in southern Iraq, and eight others were wounded Tuesday when Iraqis ambushed a patrol and a helicopter.
The ambush was among 25 attacks on U.S. and British soldiers over a 24-hour period, making for one of the deadliest days for the U.S.-led coalition since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime on April 9. Three Iraqis were killed in a firefight with American soldiers west of Baghdad. The attack near the town of Amarah was a surprise outbreak of violence in Iraq's largely Shiite south.
British Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon told Parliament in London that the British soldiers were killed while training Iraqi police in the town of Majar al-Kabir, apparently in a police station.
The ambush took place in the same town, about 145 kilometres north of the city of Basra.
A "large number of Iraqi gunmen" fired rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine-guns and rifle fire at a British patrol, wounding one soldier, Hoon said.
A rapid reaction force, including Scimitar light tanks and a Chinook CH-47 helicopter, came to help the ground troops but were also fired on, Hoon said. Seven people on board the helicopter were wounded, three of them seriously, the government said.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, extended condolences to the families of the British soldiers killed.
"These losses are a reminder that Iraq remains a dangerous place," Myers said at the Pentagon. "But we must continue to stand firm."
It was the deadliest day for coalition forces since May 19, when six U.S. marines died, most in a helicopter crash and a vehicle accident.
The deadliest single attack on the coalition came on March 23, the early days of the U.S.-led invasion, when Iraqis opened fire on a U.S. army maintenance unit near the southern town of Nasiriyah, killing 11 soldiers.
At least 18 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraqi attacks since May 1, when major combat was declared over. Those attacks have largely been blamed on Saddam loyalists and occurred mainly in the belt of central and western Iraq known as the "Sunni Triangle" where Saddam had his strongest support.
The British, however, have felt secure enough to patrol the country's second-biggest city, Basra, without flak jackets or helmets.
British army Capt. Dennis Abbott insisted the day of attacks "in no way reflects the general security situation across the U.K. area of operations."
Forty-two British troops have died, 19 in accidents, since the war began March 20. Britain had suffered no confirmed combat deaths since April 6.
Amarah, 290 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, saw an uprising against Saddam's rule in the early days of the coalition invasion of Iraq. By the time U.S. marines reached the city in early April, local Shiites had seized control.
Officials at the Pentagon said insurgents were ratcheting up anti-U.S. attacks, staging 25 of them in the past day alone. American troops battled Iraqis at a checkpoint in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on Tuesday, leaving three Iraqis dead and one American wounded.
Iraqi insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. troops in at least three towns in western Iraq. In Baghdad, guerrillas fired a grenade near the headquarters of the U.S. administration Tuesday. No injuries were reported in that attack.
Late Monday, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the mayor's office in Fallujah, the latest in a series of attacks against people believed to be co-operating with U.S. occupation forces in Iraq.
U.S. troops shot and killed one of the ambushers in Fallujah, a town 56 kilometres west of Baghdad, U.S. military officers said. But local residents at the scene said the man killed was not involved in the attack and was caught in the crossfire.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials said the military was still holding Syrian border guards wounded during an American attack on a convoy believed to include leaders from Saddam's ousted regime heading toward the Syrian border.
Syria kept a strict silence about the attack, which took place last Wednesday but only became known in recent days. Syrian officials refused comment, and state-run television, newspapers and radio made no mention of the clash.
U.S. special operations forces, backed by warplanes, attacked the convoy, acting on information from a captured top aide of Saddam. The heavy fire left wrecked buildings and cars and casualties on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border.
An undisclosed number of people were killed and wounded in the incident, and American troops captured about 20 people, most of whom since have been released, a senior U.S. defence official said Monday.
At least five Syrian border guards were wounded, and three of them were treated by American forces. None of the Syrians in U.S. hands had been returned by Tuesday.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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