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3 brits killed basra Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=394759http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=394759
Three Britons killed as troops storm Basra
Troops find body of Saddam henchman 'Chemical Ali'; more troops arrive in city
By Gethin Chamberlain near Basra
07 April 2003
British forces control of most of Basra today with almost 100 tanks and 80 armoured vehicles in the Iraq's second city.
But commanders of thousands of Desert Rats and Royal Marines warned that the battle for the city was not over. Iraqi forces still control the old city.
The move into Basra started yesterday with a lightning incursion by 2,000 troops backed by 40 tanks. They had been on the outskirts for nearly two weeks, staging raids and patrols and skirmishing with irregular troops.
The assault cost the lives of three British soldiers among them an 18-year-old fusilier named as Kelan John Turrington. He was killed by what the Army described as an "improvised explosive device". Two Irish Guards were killed as they attempted to dismount from their Warrior fighting vehicle. At least 120 Fedayeen were killed by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in one battle.
British troops have found the body of Ali Hassan al-Majid, dubbed "Chemical Ali" by opponents of the Iraqi regime for ordering a poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurds.
Major Andrew Jackson, of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment, told The Associated Press that his superiors had confirmed the death during a briefing earlier in the day.
Maj.Jackson said the body was found along with that of his bodyguard and the head of Iraqi intelligence services in Basra.
Al-Majid was a first cousin of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who had entrusted him with defence of southern Iraq against invading coalition forces.
He was apparently was killed on Saturday when two coalition aircraft used laser-guided munitions to attack his house in Basra.
More British armour poushed into Basra today, including more than 50 light-armoured vehicles and 700 troops.
Yesterday, battle groups of the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, launched a three-pronged assault shortly after 5.30am local time. By evening, only the old city was outside British control.
Crowds took to the streets to welcome the British but there was also looting as the iron grip of the Baath Party was broken. Government and paramilitary buildings were looted by local Shia residents despite the presence of British forces.
Earlier, a strike involving Desert Rats and Royal Marines showed how British forces were dealing with pockets of resis-tance in the city.
Tanks spotted four Iraqi troops hiding in a bunker at the side of the road. They were waiting at a crossroads in the south-west of the al-Hadi area of Basra, slotting a rocket-propelled grenade into their launcher to fire at the advancing British troops.
The request to engage came over the CO's radio. A moment's pause, and the reply crackled back: "You are now clear to engage the bunker with four men, with hesh and co-ax."
The jargon meant high-explosive shells and chain gun and nothing could stand in their way. Inside the bunker, the militiamen had only a few seconds left. The sound of a dull explosion rolled across the city. Over the radio, the Challenger tank crew reported the kill: "The target was engaged and the job was done."
At the controls of his Cobra helicopter, a US Marine pilot, Major Steve Hall, was looking for more targets to hit when he felt the first bullets rip into the fuselage. A round embedded itself in the nose cone, inches from where his co-pilot, First Lieutenant Dale Behm, was peering through his sights. Another smashed the targeting device ahead of him, more tore through the rotors and the gearbox. The cockpit was on fire, but he had nowhere safe to land.
People he could not see were firing at him from windows in the shanty town below. Spotting a British Challenger tank near the bridge, he inched the Cobra down. In the sky above, his wingman had spotted the muzzle flashes, and wheeled round to exact revenge. His chain gun rattled and the gunmen on the ground fell silent.
All along the western edge of the city, more dramas were played out. The early fighting was fierce, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire coming in from all directions. But, as the Black Watch pushed on into the heart of Basra, the resistance began to crumble. People started to come out on to the streets to point out the places where the Fedayeen were hiding. With the defenders in retreat, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Riddell-Webster's men pushed on.
In the headquarters of the 7th Armoured Brigade, Brigadier Graham Binns realised it was time to commit everything he had to the battle. What had started as another tentative raid to test out the
resolve of the defenders had become a headlong rush to capture the city, each unit vying with the next to capture more and more targets. Objectives which had earlier been thought beyond reach fell one by one. The battle for Basra was finally under way. From the centre of the city came the thump of more explosions. Warriors were disgorging their troops outside the shanty town, the Black Watch infantry advancing into the warren of houses.
By 11am the advance had pushed far into the city, companies pushing north and south. D company had taken out the Baath Party headquarters near the docks and were heading south, bringing a huge swath of the city into British hands. The Royal Tank Regiment was pushing further through to help clear the central area and in the south itself the Scots Dragoon Guards swept through. Columns of vehicles poured in, and people stood by the roadside to wave.
And on and on it went, the battle raging until dusk, the radios relaying news of each advance, tanks pursuing the enemy into the areas they still held, engaging them, destroying them. Iraqi civilians were beginning to believe that it was finally happening, that the big push that had been promised for days had finally arrived. The militia were fighting on, but the city was falling.
7 April 2003 20:24
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