Posted on 05/30/2006 5:53:13 PM PDT by blam
Saudi fighters 'are leading the surge in attacks on British troops'
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent, and Max Benitz
(Filed: 31
/05/2006)
Foreign terrorists, led by fighters from Saudi Arabia, are behind an upsurge in attacks against British troops in Basra, military sources said yesterday.
As the Army suffered the highest number of fatal attacks in a month since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, commanders on the ground are concerned at the level of sophistication and ferocity of the assaults.
L/Cpl Paul Farrelly
Their anxiety was underlined when the Ministry of Defence named two soldiers killed in the latest attacks that have claimed nine lives this month.
Lt Tom Mildinhall and L/Cpl Paul Farrelly, both of the Queen's Dragoon Guards, died after a roadside bomb destroyed their Land Rover on Sunday night.
The 26-year-old officer's parents, Lt Col Colin Mildinhall, a retired Royal Engineer and his mother Susan, said their grief was "an ordeal we would not wish any mother and father to endure".
"For those parents who have lost sons and daughters in this way, we are now with them," they said in a statement. "For those who will have to go through this in the future; we are here.
"We have lost a beautiful, talented and loving son for ever. Our world is in pieces and our country has again lost one of its best."
Lt Mildinhall was educated at Monkton Combe school in Bath and studied computer sciences at Durham University where he also excelled at rowing.
On his second tour of Iraq, Lt Mildinhall was praised as a "thoroughly capable officer" who "physically led the more dangerous patrols". Lt Col Anthony Pittman, commanding officer of the QDG, said: "Regardless of circumstance he always viewed the glass as half full.
''His love of life, sharp wit and ability to laugh at himself coupled with his enduring commitment to the team were qualities that endeared him to us all."
Lt Col Colin Mildinhall
L/Cpl Paul Farrelly, 27, from Runcorn, was top recruit on his course when he joined the Army four years ago and was serving on his third Iraq deployment.
Lt Col Pittman praised the married father of three young children as "one of the most competent lance corporals in the regiment".
"He embodied much of what is best about soldiers in the British Army; selfless, determined, humorous and steadfast in the face of adversity," he said.
Kimberly Dozier, the CBS reporter who was seriously injured in the attack that killed two British television crewmen, was flow to an American military hospital in Germany yesterday.
The reporter had shrapnel removed from her head and will have surgery for serious injuries to her lower abdomen and legs.
The Saudi influence on terrorism in Shia-dominated Basra has not been previously reported but has caused concern among military commanders because of their training, technology and finance.
Although the majority of Saudi Arabians are Sunni, the minority Shia have taken part in terrorist attacks.
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, admitted that a recent surge in violence was a cause of "major concern". Dozens of soldiers have been targeted by advanced "improvised explosive devices" (IED) that the Army has been unable to disable or jam.
Morale is also being affected by the continual danger, with older soldiers saying the apprehension is similar to that experienced on the streets of Northern Ireland in the 70s and early 80s.
"People are dying and morale is being affected by it," said an officer operating in Iraq.
"The perception is that attacks are becoming more lethal and better targeted and the delivery process is more effective. There is a definite sense that we are still making progress but because there is no real defence against IEDs people are feeling a bit glummer."
Commanders are concerned that Saudi and other foreign fighters are co-ordinating the attacks in a "consensual environment", in which the locals will not tell the military where roadside bombs have been planted. "The concern is that support for our presence is going down," a defence source said.
There is also a strong belief, particularly among the Americans, that Iran is continuing to ferry bombs to Baghdad via Basra.
Saudi ? Not Iranian?
Odd....
Well, there were, what, 15 SAUDIS on the 9-11 planes that attacked us, and 0 Iranians. Not inconsistent.
I wouldn't really call someone who places an IED marked "To whom it may concern" beside the road a "fighter."
Well put!
These savages use roadside bombs because they know they'll get their asses handed to them in a straight up firefight with either us or the British.
They aren't "fighters", they're cowards.
And there were 0 Saudis taking American's hostage in Iran as well. What does that have to do with the cost of tea in China?
I'm going to take a wild guess and say you had a public school education.
The United Arab Emirates are a different country from Saudi Arabia.
This getting weird the country that lost 19,000 men in one day in one battle (The Somme) is freaking out about 9 casulties in a month.
Yes...But the UAE, Saudi and Iran have one common denominator...George Bush calls it the 'religion of peace'...
Two common denominators. Not only Islam but also they sit on major oil reserves. If you was a dictator and your income would decrease if the neighboring nation would get back on its feet and export more oil what would you do?
You thought that it was odd that it was Saudi, not Iranian, jihadists fighting the Brits. I think there is nothing odd about it since Saudi Arabia is the #1 exporter of terrorists and the #1 financial backers of the Madrassas schools that teach a violent, radical Wahhabist form of Islam (embraced, among others, by the Taliban).
Further, I would expect Iranians on the whole to be less inclined to back the jihadists or the Iraqi insurgents since they are mostly Shiite, and the Shiites in Iraq now dominate the political power structure.
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