Forces loyal to Saddam Hussein appeared last night to have lost control of much of Basra, after columns of British troops poured into Iraq’s second city, destroying its Ba’ath party headquarters.
After nearly three weeks on the outskirts, three squadrons of Challenger 2 tanks from the Royal Scots Dragoons ploughed into the city, followed by a second wave of Royal Marine Commandos. By midday they had driven from the south-west through a heavily damaged industrial area, encountering only ”isolated pockets” of resistance. Three British soldiers were killed.
The centre of the attack was a college about six kilometres from the city’s edge. Supported by attack helicopters and jets, around 15 Warrior armoured personnel carriers of the Irish Guards and Scots Dragoon Guards led the assault on the city’s college of literature, defended by Ba’ath party loyalists with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
Some Iraqis were reported to have cheered and waved on the advancing British troops, while others began looting furniture from destroyed military and government buildings.
British chief-of-staff Major General Peter Wall told Reuters at the Qatar military headquarters that Iraqi army forces in Basra had ”departed”. But he warned that Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party loyalists and Fedayeen militia were still a threat. ”It’s been a very good day but I caution against excessive optimism,” he said. ”A relatively small number of determined people in a large city can give us difficulty.”
The British planned to maintain an overnight presence inside the city, which they had been content to encircle for two weeks. But the intention is for troops to be able to go in and out at will. Foot patrols in the old city centre, where streets are too narrow for tanks, would begin soon.
Speaking after the first wave of attacks, the UK military representative in Qatar, Group Captain Al Lockwood, said it appeared that the Ba’ath party leadership in Basra had been eliminated or had fled.
Group Capt Lockwood said the decision to move in followed reports that the remaining leadership in Basra was keen to surrender, and that citizens were looting the shops. Both suggested a loss of control by Iraqi forces. ”The indicators were there that probably the time was right to move into Basra, and we have done.”
The operation came after a bombing strike early on Satur day morning on the headquarters of Ali Hassan al-Majid, the general known as Chemical Ali, who commands the south.
US officers at central command in Qatar said yesterday that his bodyguard had been found dead in the rubble. There were around 20 Iraqi commanders in the building when it was hit.
SAS forces directed an air strike on the HQ by two American jets that dropped laser-guided bombs on the building.
On the edge of the city, close to Kibla shanty town opposite the British base in a disused factory, the two-lane highway leading into the centre of Basra at times yesterday appeared to be almost totally jammed by columns of British armour.
Civilians fleeing from Basra in lorries and taxis — many waving white flags as they passed the British columns — described seeing two burned out Iraqi tanks on the road.
Among those fleeing appeared to be two Iraqi military vehicles under white flags. For the first time, many of those leaving seemed to be celebrating the British advance by waving and honking horns, in an area that had seen repeated assaults on US and British soldiers and western journalists.
The assault seems to have surprised the Iraqi defenders, who at one stage in the encirclement had fired on fleeing civilians to keep them in the city. Only days ago British officers went out of their way to suggest that they would leave the city alone until the fate of Baghdad had been decided.
The Ministry of Defence last night named one of the three soldiers killed yesterday, after his family had been informed. He was Fusilier Kelan Turrington, 18, of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. – Guardian Unlimited Â