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Iraqis Killed UK Soldiers Over Searches -Residents
Reuters ^ | Updated 10:18 AM ET June 25, 2003 | By Michael Georgy

Posted on 06/25/2003 8:16:48 AM PDT by Lijahsbubbe

MAJJAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqis said on Wednesday that anger over weapons searches in private homes triggered the killing of six British soldiers and the wounding of eight others in clashes around this southern Shi'ite town this week.

But a British military spokesman in Iraq, Lieutenant-Colonel Ronnie McCourt, said the killing of the six military police in Majjar on Tuesday was unprovoked, adding: "It was murder."

(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.attbi.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: iraq; majaralkabir; uk; uksoldiers

1 posted on 06/25/2003 8:16:48 AM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: Lijahsbubbe
It sounds like these Brits may have been killed because of a decision by their commanders. As I understand it, the Brits were firing PLASTIC BULLETS for crowd control. Some Shiites in the crowd responded with AK-47s. Plastic bullets against real bullets? Exit six good men.

The American soldiers are only using real bullets. Makes sense to me.

Congressman Billybob

Latest UPI article, now up FR, "Split Decision, Clear Result (the Michigan SC cases)."

2 posted on 06/25/2003 8:29:13 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob ("Saddam has left the building. Heck, the building has left the building.")
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To: Congressman Billybob
I guess the British military has been very sensitive about crowd control ever since the Boston Massacre.
3 posted on 06/25/2003 9:36:26 AM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: Congressman Billybob
It sounds like these Brits may have been killed because of a decision by their commanders. As I understand it, the Brits were firing PLASTIC BULLETS for crowd control. Some Shiites in the crowd responded with AK-47s. Plastic bullets against real bullets? Exit six good men. The American soldiers are only using real bullets. Makes sense to me.

Congressman Billybob

More details can be found in the accounts following, but it seems the deaths were a result of the british house-to-house searches for handguns and rifles, and a previous demonsation in which several Iraqis were shot and killed by British troops.

I seem to recall similar deaths of British troops under similar circumstances near a bridge in Lexington and at a place called Bunker Hill, though it was before my time.

Troops were killed by mob By Robert Fox in Basra and Valentine Low,
Evening Standard

25 June 2003

The six British soldiers killed in Iraq were shot dead as they tried to quell an angry mob, it was claimed today.

Men of the Royal Military Police fired rubber bullets when faced with thousands of Iraqis demonstrating over intrusive searches of their homes.

But the Iraqis, believing the soldiers were shooting real bullets, returned fire with AK-47s. The men died at the village of Majar al Kabir 90 miles north of Basra.

An Iraqi policeman in the town said armed civilians killed two of the British soldiers at the scene of the demonstration - in front of the mayor's office - and then chased four other British soldiers to the police station, killing them after a two-hour gunbattle.

Today the station bore the marks of a large gunbattle, with walls pocked full of bullet holes. Broken glass and dried blood stains covered the floor.

There were reports that two dozen Iraqi policemen at the station asked the military police to flee with them but the British insisted on staying.

Witnesses in Majar al Kabir said the clash with the military police came after days of tension because of methods used to search civilians for weapons. There was no immediate comment from the British military on the report.

"These British soldiers came with their dogs and pointed weapons at women and children," said one villager. "As Muslims, we can't accept dogs at our homes."

Residents said the soldiers first came to the town to search for weapons on 21 June. They burst into houses with dogs sniffing for weapons and with guns pointing at women and children.

After complaints from locals the British force agreed to halt the intrusive inspections, but two days later they returned with the same attitude, the residents said.

The Iraqis asked to stop the searches and promised to hand over weapons within two months, they said.

When the soldiers returned yesterday thousands took to the streets to protest.

"I yelled at them because they pointed their rifles at a child. I told them 'don't do that' but a soldier hit me with the butt of his rifle in the face," one resident. "Then the shooting started." Residents said they would not accept a British presence in their town any more. "We will do the same if the British come back. We will not allow them to come back," said Abu Faten.

In a separate incident at the nearby village of Amarah eight British troops were injured yesterday when they came under heavy fire from Iraqi gunmen. Men of the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment fought a three-hour running battle.

Defence experts said the attacks, which saw the heaviest coalition losses since the war in Iraq was declared over on 1 May, were likely to mark an escalation of violence against British troops.

The situation is leaving military commanders increasingly gloomy about their chances of maintaining control over such a vast area without putting more British lives at risk. One military source said: "The fear is that this could get really bloody. It's being made all the more difficult for us because of the political uncertainty coming from London which is having a direct impact over here."

Today Tony Blair was facing a rough ride at Prime Minister's Questions when he will come under fierce examination from all sides, including his own backbenchers, many of whom were opposed to the war.

His official spokesman Alastair Campbell will be appearing before a committee of MPs looking into claims that the Government's evidence to back a war on Iraq was fabricated.

The members of 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment - who are due to start coming home next week - were on a routine patrol near the same village when they were attacked by a large number of Iraqi gunmen.

As the patrol of around 10 men came under fire from RPG-7 rocketpropelled grenades and heavy machineguns their two Land Rovers were destroyed and one paratrooper was injured.

The paras returned fire and called for assistance. But the attackers had plenty of ammunition to sustain a fight against the patrol and also fired on several waves of reinforcements attempting to come in by road and by helicopter.

At one point the British Commander in Basra, Major General Peter Wall, prepared to send a column of Challenger 2 tanks to the area.

A rapid response unit of about 20 more paratroopers was sent in by RAF Chinook helicopter to help recover the wounded, with a troop of Scimitar armoured vehicles.

As the Chinook prepared to land the Iraqi gunmen opened fire again at the twin-rotor helicopter.

Seven men on board were injured, two seriously. The injured were six paras and an RAF reservist doctor who had been sent to treat the wounded. He was hit in the foot. Still under fire, the Chinook managed to take off with the injured and flew them to 202 Field Hospital. The two most seriously hurt were flown on to an American field hospital in Kuwait.

The paras on the ground then fought a running battle as they withdrew, killing many of their attackers, according to reports from the scene. "The soldiers acquitted themselves superbly in a classic defensive battle," a senior officer commented.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon today said that Britain could send "many thousands" more troops to Iraq if that was needed.

He stressed that there were no such plans. But he denied suggestions that the armed forces were stretched to the limit.

And, questioned on the BBC's Today programme, he said: "We have more troops, should that be required."

The Defence Secretary pointed out that when the war began, some 19,000 soldiers were committed to cover during the Firefighters' dispute. The end of that commitment meant that " significant numbers" could be made available.

Until yesterday the British had not seen major violence for weeks. "It's normally very quiet down here," said Lt-Col Ronnie McCourt in Basra. "We've been here nearly two months now and this is the first time people have been deliberately, consciously shooting at us."

Forty-two British troops have died - 19 in accidents - since the war began on 20 March. Britain had suffered no confirmed combat deaths since 6 April. Since then, two British servicemen have died in accidents, another of natural causes and a fourth in an explosion still under investigation.

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Iraqi Police Say Angry Citizens Killed British Troops

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

MAJAR AL-KABIR, Iraq — Iraqi townspeople enraged over civilian deaths were allegedly behind Tuesday's attack that killed six British military police officers during a demonstration in southern Iraq, a local policeman said Wednesday.

A municipal official says British forces are giving civilian leaders 48 hours to hand over the gunmen responsible for the attack.

The U.S. military said Tuesday there had been 25 attacks on coalition forces over a 24-hour period, including a firefight in Ramadi (search), west of Baghdad, that killed four Iraqis and wounded two American soldiers and two Iraqis.

British military officials were meeting Wednesday with seven members of the city's administrative council in the nearby town of Amarah, seeking the killers' surrender, said Qassem Nimeh, an official in the mayor's office in Majar al-Kabir.

Nimeh did not say how they would respond if the attackers were not handed over before the 48-hour deadline.

"We hope that we'll be able to bring those who are guilty of these attacks to justice," Paul Bremer , the top U.S. official in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad on Wednesday. In interviews with U.S. television networks Wednesday, Bremer said the coalition will not be deterred by "a few fanatics."

There were more coalition-led checkpoints installed around Iraq Wednesday after the latest attack in an attempt to safeguard U.S. and British troops.

Abbas Faddhel, an Iraqi police officer in Majar-Al-Kabir, said the British troops shot and killed four civilian demonstrators on Tuesday.

Armed civilians then killed two of the British soldiers in retaliation -- in front of the mayor's office -- and proceeded to chase four others to a police station, killing them after a two-hour gunbattle, Faddhel said.

Salam Mohammed, a member of a municipal security force, said one British soldier was shot and killed at the station's doorway and the other three were slain after Iraqi gunmen stormed the station and cornered them in a single room.

British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said an "urgent review" was under way, and that reinforcements were ready if needed. "Depending on the results of that review ... we have significant forces available should it be necessary. Many thousands, certainly," Hoon said.

The incident had raised fears that attacks against coalition troops were spreading to previously calm areas like southern Iraq.

"I know that there was some tension in this particular town," Hoon told British Broadcasting Corp. television. "That arises out of the fact that it is routinely the case in a number of these southern towns for people to be armed and indeed for people to have quite heavy weapons, including machine guns."

After another fierce firefight Tuesday between Iraqis and British troops occupying southern Iraq, eight British soldiers were wounded, three of them seriously.

The day's violence began when British soldiers fired rubber bullets -- then live ammunition -- at demonstrators in Majar al-Kabir who railed against the presence of British forces in the city, said Abu Zahraa, a 30-year-old vendor.

He said the British had formally agreed a day earlier to let local police patrol the city.

Some accounts said British soldiers killed all four during the demonstration; another account said two unarmed protesters were killed during the demonstration and two other civilians were killed in the gunbattle at the police station.

On Wednesday, the station's walls were full of bullet holes. Broken glass and dried blood stains covered the floor.

A British military spokesman, Capt. Adam Marchant-Wincott, said it was possible there had been an agreement between British forces and local police allowing the locals to take over security for the city.

Marchant-Wincott couldn't say whether the British forces had fired at demonstrators but added that they would do so only if their lives were threatened.

Faddhel said there were about two dozen Iraqi policemen at the station who fled through a window during the gunbattle. Two were wounded. Faddhel said the Iraqi police asked the British military police to flee with them but the British insisted on staying.

In another attack, an oil pipeline was sabotaged Tuesday near Hadithah, 150 miles northwest of Baghdad, an Iraq oil ministry official said.

Television reports Wednesday showed oil flooding into palm groves and the Euphrates River. The official said saboteurs broke valves on the pipeline, causing the oil to spill.

It was the latest in a series of attacks against Iraq's power and oil infrastructure that has set back reconstruction efforts and increased blackouts in Baghdad.

The violence at the police station came in the mostly Shiite south, where resentment toward Saddam Hussein's government had been strong. There had been no substantial attacks there against U.S. or British forces since the end of the war and the area was considered relatively safe.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the pro-Saddam forces "dead-enders" and said coalition troops were making progress against them.

"Just as they were unable to stop the coalition advance in Baghdad, the death squads will not stop our commitment to create stability and security in postwar Iraq," Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

Elsewhere in the same town, a "large number" of Iraqi gunmen opened fire on a British patrol Tuesday with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and rifles, Hoon said. The British returned fire, and one British soldier was wounded in the fight.

A rapid reaction force, including Scimitar light tanks and a Chinook CH-47 helicopter, came to help the ground troops but also came under fire, Hoon said. Seven people on board the helicopter were wounded, three of them seriously, the government said.

Hoon said commanders were investigating whether the earlier deaths and the later ambush were connected.

"These losses are a reminder that Iraq remains a dangerous place," Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the Pentagon. "But we must continue to stand firm."

It was the deadliest day for coalition forces since May 19, when six U.S. Marines died, most in a helicopter crash and a vehicle accident.

Saddam loyalists, Sunnis and ex-army soldiers are suspected in the attacks. The Shiite-dominated south has been largely peaceful since the regime's fall. The Muslim sect had been long repressed by Saddam.

Forty-two British troops have died -- 19 in accidents -- since the war began March 20. Britain had suffered no confirmed combat deaths since April 6.

Fox News' Bob Sellers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

4 posted on 06/25/2003 12:12:26 PM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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