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Six british soldiers killed { June 24 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25870-2003Jun24.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25870-2003Jun24.html
Six British Soldiers Killed, Eight Wounded in Southern Iraq
By Steven Gutkin
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 24, 2003; 12:21 PM
BAGHDAD, Iraq -— Six British soldiers died in southern Iraq on Tuesday, and an ambush on a patrol and a helicopter wounded at least eight others in one of the deadliest days for U.S. and British forces since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The ambush was the first significant attack on the British since major combat was declared over on May 1. While Americans have been under fire in central Iraq for weeks, the British in the south have felt secure enough to patrol the country’s second-biggest city, Basra, without flak jackets or helmets.
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.
The circumstances in which the British troops were killed were unclear. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office announced the deaths in the southern town of Amarah, 90 miles north of Basra, but only said they occurred in an “incident.”
British troops came under attack in another location only miles away in the mostly Shiite city. Gunmen fired on a patrol, wounding one soldier. A helicopter dispatched to assist the ground forces then came under fire as it landed and seven people on board were wounded, three of them seriously, Blair’s office said.
“It’s normally very quiet down here,” said British Army Lt. Col. Ronnie McCourt, in Basra. “We’ve been here nearly two months now and this is the first time people have been deliberately, consciously shooting at us.”
At least 18 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraqi attacks since May 1. Thirty-one British troops have died — 16 in accidents — since U.S. and British forces invaded March 20. Britain has suffered no combat deaths since April 6.
Most of the attacks have been in the belt of central and western Iraq known as the “Sunni Triangle,” where Saddam had his strongest support.
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 cooperating with U.S. occupation forces in Iraq.
U.S. troops shot and killed one of the ambushers in Fallujah, a town 35 miles 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.
During the past 24 hours, the U.S. military said it had conducted 1,068 day patrols and 837 night patrols across Iraq in an effort to stem the violence.
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 Hussein’s ousted regime heading toward the Syrian border.
Syria kept a strict silence about the attack, which took place a week ago 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 last Wednesday, 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. defense 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.
A U.S. Embassy spokesperson referred The Associated Press to the Syrian authorities and U.S. Central Command for comment.
“We have made it very clear to senior levels of the Syrian government the importance we attach to its cooperation with our efforts to achieve a stable, democratic government in Iraq and the apprehension of senior officials of the former Iraqi regime,” the spokesperson said in Damascus.
© 2003 The Associated Press
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