Posted on 03/21/2003 3:58:36 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Over 250 Iraqis surrender at Umm Qasr -UK command
ABOARD HMS ARK ROYAL, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines under British command took at least 250 Iraqi prisoners on Friday as they advanced into the outskirts of the important southern port of Umm Qasr, a British commander said.
Colonel Steve Cox told Reuters on board the British flagship Ark Royal in the Gulf that the Iraqi troops had surrendered to the U.S. 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit by noon (0900 GMT).
Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft, who is with 15 MEU, said the marines raised the Stars and Stripes over Umm Qasr's new port around noon but had yet to take the old port, about a mile (1.5 km) away.
Umm Qasr, close to the second city of Basra, is Iraq's main port for cargo and its capture would give the British-led brigade control of virtually all access to Iraq by sea.
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