Posted on 03/09/2003 8:00:25 AM PST by Indy Pendance
BRITISH and US airborne troops are planning a lightning assault on Baghdad's Saddam International Airport as part of an offensive to overrun the Iraqi capital within 72 hours of the outbreak of war, a British newspaper reported yesterday.
British paratroopers from 16 Air Assault Brigade will support US soldiers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions in any airport assault, The Sunday Telegraph said, without indicating its sources.
Britain, Spain and the US have proposed March 17 as a deadline for Iraq to disarm itself of any banned weapons or face war.
The Sunday Telegraph said any assault on the airport would begin in the hours after the start of war.
Combat jets armed with satellite-guided bombs would first destroy air-defence sites and troops guarding the airfield before paratroopers or heliborne troops jumped from a height of 75m.
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