Posted on 03/27/2003 12:44:33 AM PST by dawgmeat9
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar - Coalition aircraft and artillery destroyed several Iraqi armored vehicles that streamed out of the besieged city of Basra overnight, the top British commander in the Gulf said Thursday.
Air Marshal Brian Burridge said he didn't have specifics on how many of the estimated 120 tanks and armored personnel carriers heading south out of Basra toward British troops were destroyed, or what type of weaponry was used against them.
British pool reports said U.S. Navy (news - web sites) F-18 Super Hornets and Royal Air Force Harrier ground attack jets dropped precision-guided munitions and cluster bombs on the Iraqi armor.
From the ground, the column was pounded by 155mm AS90 heavy artillery from 3rd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, and 105mm light field guns from 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery, said the reports from the British Press Association.
"Having established that these forces were not trying to surrender, U.K. forces took swift and decisive action against this threat, destroying a number through a mixture of artillery and airpower," Burridge told reporters.
A day earlier, British artillery destroyed a smaller column of about 20 vehicles trying to get out of Basra through the north, he said.
He acknowledged British forces ringing the city had "come up against some stiff opposition," but predicted victory.
He said loyalist Iraqi forces were threatening regular army troops that were trying to desert, forcing them to climb into tanks to take on British forces on the outskirts.
Burridge said British forces had also attacked 11 Iraqi mortar firing positions and some T-55 tanks during fighting around the city.
He said British commandos and U.S. Marines had mostly secured the al-Faw Peninsula near Umm Qasr in southern Iraq (news - web sites) and were conducting "mopping up" operations against remaining Iraqi fighters there.
Two sea mines were discovered outside a shipping channel that has been cleared in the waterways leading into Umm Qasr — a development that Burridge said "may delay" the delivery of sorely needed humanitarian aid to the region.
Three wellhead fires had been extinguished but six were still burning, he said, adding that he expected Iraq to begin resuming oil exports from its Rumeila field in three months.
Many of the wellheads had been rigged with explosives, and troops were examining them to make sure they were not booby-trapped.
Burridge said the column of vehicles that was targeted was manned by conscripts and regular army troops who were rounded up by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists and forced to drive toward the British positions.
"This isn't a formation that really knows its business," he said. "You are not dealing with forces that can maneuver."
He urged patience in efforts to secure Basra, saying there were still paramilitary forces in the city.
Burridge would not comment on the apparent attack on a residential area of Baghdad by coalition forces on Wednesday, but reiterated that allied forces were taking pains to avoid civilian casualties.
He said military units will handle security for now in Basra, but Iraqis will be encouraged to take over administration as soon as possible.
He said he believed the Iraqi regime was losing control over some of its forces and that its ability to fight was diminished.
"There are signs that they are finding it exceedingly difficult ... to maintain control," he said.
Burridge also criticized Arab media outlets and Iraqi authorities for showing images of captured British forces.
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