Blair Warns Of 'Crucial Moment' In Dash To Baghdad

Independent (UK) ^ | 3-24-2003 | AP

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Blair warns of 'crucial moment' in dash for Baghdad

Two British soldiers missing in southern Iraq; Stray US missile kills five on Syrian bus; Iraqi TV shows downed US helicopter; Sandstorm halts troops AP
24 March 2003

Coalition forces are close to confronting a key unit of the Republican Guard in Iraq, Tony Blair said this afternoon.

He told MPs that coalition forces are about 60 miles south of Baghdad near Karbala, adding: "It is a little way from there that they will encounter the Medina division of the Republican Guard who are defending the route to Baghdad. This will be a crucial moment."

The warning came as it was revealed that a British soldier was killed in action today near Al Zubayr, in southern Iraq. A British military source at Allied Central Command in Qatar said: "Next of kin have been informed and further details will be given when they become available."

In other developments on the fifth day of the war, two British soldiers are missing after a convoy of vehicles in which they were travelling was attacked in southern Iraq. Meanwhile 12 US soldiers were presumed captured by Iraqis in an ambush near An Nasiriyah.

Other main points include the news that a stray US missile hit a Syrian bus near the Iraqi border killing five passengers.

At the same time, Iraqi officials said that two Apache helicopters have been shot down and that two pilots are being held prisoner; Iraqi state television showed film of one of the helicopters, apparently intact after an emergency landing.

Push to Baghdad: The US Army's 3rd Infantry Division were near the Shiite holy city of Karbala, only 50 miles south of Baghdad, but was stalled by a sandstorm that blew out of the desert in the afternoon.

US Marines were still bogged down at An Nasiriyah, 225 miles south-east of Baghdad, where 12 US soldiers were missing and presumed captured by Iraqis in an ambush on an army supply convoy. As many as nine Marines are feared dead.

Lt. Gen. John Abizaid of Central Command said a fake surrender near An Nasiriyah set off the "sharpest engagement of the war thus far".

Coalition forces may also be preparing a northern front. US troops have been in northern Iraq for about 24 hours, an American officer confirmed - although he would reveal no details or numbers of the troops.

Marine Col. Keith Lawless, speaking in Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region, said the American forces had arrived but would not say from where they had come nor where they were. Reporters should "not presume" they were flown in.

The US Commander General Tommy Franks, who described resistance as sporadic, said that coalition forces had intentionally by-passed some military formations to keep moving on.

Missing British soldiers: The MoD said the attack in which the soldiers went missing took place yesterday, but declined to give details of which unit the soldiers belonged to or where the attack happened.

"There was an attack on British vehicles in southern Iraq on 23 March. Two soldiers are missing and every effort is being made to find and recover them," the ministry said in a statement. "Their next of kin have been informed."

At US Central Command in Qatar, Group Captain Al Lockwood, a spokesman for British forces in the Gulf, said British vehicles had come under attack from regular army forces. He told Sky News television: "The formation dispersed. When they regrouped they found one of the Land Rovers that the soldiers had been in was unoccupied."

The MoD in London said it was being deliberately vague about the suspected location of the soldiers for safety and operational reasons.

Group Captain Lockwood said coalition troops had met resistance from "people loyal to Saddam Hussein's regime".

"They are very much irregular forces providing difficulties for us with their guerrilla tactics. However we are maintaining our advance ... and will come back and look after them in our own time," he added.

Stray missile: A US missile hit a Syrian passenger bus near the Iraqi border, killing five and injuring 10, Syria's official news agency reported today.

The agency reported that the air-to-surface missile hit the bus Sunday morning on the Iraqi side of the border. The bus was carrying Syrians fleeing the war in Iraq, it said.

The wounded were taken to a Syrian hospital on the border, while the dead were sent to a hospital on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Syria, which strongly opposes the US-led war on Iraq, has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution of the Iraq-US dispute over Baghdad's weapons arsenal.

Downed helicopter: Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al–Sahhaf said: "A small number of peasants shot down two Apaches. Perhaps we will show pictures of the pilots."

Iraqi state television showed pictures of only one downed helicopter in a grassy field. Men holding Kalashnikov automatic rifles danced around the aircraft. There were also pictures of two helmets apparently belonging to members of the crew, as well as documents and other papers on the ground.

The US confirmed that one of their Apache Longbow helicopters was shot down near the city of Kerbala, 70 miles south-west of Baghdad, and the crew was missing. The helicopter was one of 30 that had been attacking Republican Guard forces.

Special forces: Australian troops have taken out two of Saddam Hussein's command and control centres and killed some of his most elite soldiers, they said today.

The 500-strong Australian Special Forces Task Group includes commandos, specialist troops trained to deal with weapons of mass destruction, Chinook CH-47 helicopters and an SAS squadron operating deep inside Iraq.

National commander Brigadier Maurie McNarn, speaking at Allied Central Command in Qatar, said: "So far we have either struck hardcore elements of the regime who have fought and died or we have had blokes who really don't want to support the regime and don't want to be there and, in that case, we let them go."

Baghdad: the Iraqi capital came under intense aerial bombardment early today with several large explosions rocking buildings in the centre of the city. It was heaviest bombing since Friday night's 'shock and awe' attacks.