Warplanes attack Basra column

BBC ^ | 3/26/2003 18:24 GMT | Clive Myrie

[Forgiven_Sinner]

British troops are in position around Basra

Coalition warplanes are attacking a huge convoy of tanks and armoured personnel carriers which are heading south-east from Basra towards the al-Faw peninsula.

BBC correspondent Clive Myrie is close to the area and says the battle has been raging for more than an hour.

He says the movement of Iraqi armour may be a counter-attack to recapture ground lost over the last two or three days, or possibly a tactical retreat from Basra because of the possibility of an uprising in the north of the city.

British radar spotted the column of between 70 and 120 vehicles following the coast road along the Shatt al-Arab waterway and a number of fighter jets were scrambled to engage the column.

British troops are positioned along the coast road as well as around Basra, amid reports of an uprising in the city. Those reports have been dismissed by the Iraqis.

Earlier, 14 civilians died and another 30 were injured in Baghdad when a shopping area was hit during an air raid by US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi authorities say.

The BBC's Andrew Gilligan, at the scene in the northern Shaab district of the city, says it appears that two missiles hit a busy parade of shops, several hundred metres from any military buildings.

An angry crowd of several hundred people gathered in the area following the strike, waving the shoes and clothes of victims.

If confirmed as a coalition attack, correspondents say it will be a blow to attempts by the US-led forces to minimise civilian casualties during their drive to unseat Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Key military developments

* Republican Guard units in the outskirts of Baghdad continue to be bombed

* Coalition forces fire intense artillery barrages towards the city of Nasiriya - about 370 kilometres (230 miles) south-east of Baghdad

British forces continue to report surprise resistance in Basra, which they had hoped would welcome them.

They said most resistance came from paramilitaries loyal to Saddam Hussein, using guerrilla tactics inside the city, rather than from the regular army.

But UK troops have been reluctant to enter the city aggressively to combat the paramilitaries, because of the risk to civilians.

IRAQ CAMPAIGN

Map: Military operations Iraq's Republican Guard

They have been halted again - this time at the town of Ash Shatrah, about 40 km north of the city of Nasiriya.

The Marines responded by calling in artillery strikes on Iraqi positions in the town.

The Iraqis say that about 200 houses in the city have been destroyed, and about 500 people wounded.

Further north, the US 7thCavalry has been involved in the largest battle of the war so far, near the central town of Najaf.

An American intelligence officer has said that up to 650 Iraqis who attacked the armoured column were killed.

That contrasts with an earlier estimate by the Pentagon of between 150 and 300 Iraqi dead.

In other developments:

* A large convoy of Republican Guards is reported to be moving south of Baghdad for what could be a major confrontation with coalition forces, Associated Press news agency says

Iraqis vow revenge after the blasts An angry crowd gathered at the scene * The US is sending another 30,000 troops to join the campaign in Iraq

* Arabic television channel al-Jazeera broadcasts a video of what it said was two dead British soldiers and two British prisoners of war

* US President George W Bush speaks of "steady progress" in the war and warns the Iraqi leadership that the "day of reckoning" is getting nearer. Mr Bush is to meet UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday to discuss the immediate future of Iraq if Saddam Hussein is deposed

[aristeides]

Coordinated or not, why break out seawards? That just exposes them to naval gunfire.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Retreat would be north of of the Euphrates. Report indicates movement south. They are on the offensive.,/i>

Calling this "on the offensive" is giving them more credit than they deserve... This is stupidity on the move. Air power is going to destroy this stupidity. They're trying to take Umm Qasr under the protection of the sand-storm. This is suicide -- and it's welcomed. Let's stop d*cking around.

[rolling_stone]

Highway of death part II, this must be their strategy, get obliterated to cause sympathy from the outside world..it worked the first time or we might have gone into BG in GW I. Brilliant strategy..unless you are in the column...

[johnb838]

Dude. Pop a chilly. Why does that make me an a-hole? I didn't say I didn't care about civilian casualties, though there are things I care about more. I just didn't like the preachy, arrogant, german sounding tone of his post. I don't trust the germans pacifism. I think it's more like pacifism as long as they get their way, much like the liberals here.

[jiggyboy]

Let's say it's a trap. What kind of trap could it be? Finish this sentence: "Ok, when the trucks are all blown to bits, the Americans are screwed, because..." A couple of guesses:

1) The road is impassable?
2) Something bio/chem in the trucks is now blowing around?
3) Basra residents ordered into the trucks at gunpoint got blown up too?
4) Now we know where the planes come from?
5) While the Americans were blowing up the trucks, we had time to [fill in the blank]

This is by no means an exhaustive list, etc.

[SirAllen]

"It's like listening to a ballgame on the radio when all the play-by-play guy will talk about is what the third base coach is doing"

Great analogy!

[piasa]

The attack (911) on the Pentagon was an act of war rather than terrorism (as was Pearl Harbor.)

Since when are airliners full of civilians legitimate military targets?

Do you consider coffee pots full of boiling water "weapons of mass destruction?"

[BSunday]

pun intended ?

[aristeides]

I wonder if they might in fact not be cut off in the Faw Peninsula. Isn't Iran right across the Al Abdullah waterway from that peninsula? Maybe Iran would let them in.

[Rain-maker]

[Mister Baredog]

I don't buy that propoganda. This is genuine (if misguided and fool hardy) resistance to an "invader" (how they see us). If they are able to and motivated ebough to launch counter attacks against overwhelming "coalition" forces then we mis-judged the Iraqi "regime's" situation.

My guess is all of these factors are play. Sure is messy.

[Darksheare]

Three pots of boiling water would be weapons of mass destruction if they contained Ricin... You never know with the Ragi crowd.

(The Doc seems to have forgotten that ALL the attacks on 911 were BOTH acts of war AND terrorism at the same time. Parsing like Clinton on it doesn't help us out at all.)

[babygene]

First; it is the Iraqis responsibility to differentiate between their fighting forces and civilians. Once the Iraqi combat force dons civilian clothing, all civilians will have to be deemed the enemy. The distinction and the resulting consequences is upon them, not us.

Second; many of you don’t seem to get it yet… Regardless of what you have been led to believe, this is a holy war. A war declared on the West by the Islamic religion. It is a clash of cultures, and their enemy is not just our military, it is all of us. We are not fighting an army, we are fighting a culture. This will become much clearer over the next decade.

The “army” of Iraq will be defeated, but the “war” will continue until one ideology is crushed.

[ThinkDifferent]

I'd like to see about a million Iraqis (soldiers or civilians, makes no diff. to me) as shadow silhouettes against the ruins of Baghdad

We have no quarrel with the Iraqi people. It's not their fault they're ruled by a psychopath, and I see no reason to hope for their deaths. The Baath leaders and Republican Guard should be exterminated, but we should make reasonable efforts to avoid harming the people they've been oppressing.

[RippleFire]

Thanks for the map. I'm voting bug out to Iran or a dip in the ocean.

[js1138]

Well, when I post, I'm not speaking for the site, but you can put me "on record" as not caring re: civilian casualties in Iraq.

OK, you're on record. Hope you're proud.

[Destro]

Yup

[Paulus Invictus]

A-10's are the worst think to see in your rear view mirrors or windshields if you are driving an Iraqi truck or tank. A-10s not only look bad, they are major bad. I examined one up close and decided to keep my distance from now on.

[Treebeard]

When you weed your lawn, do you just pull up the weeds that annoy you at the moment, or do you try to get all of them at once, so a small problem now doesn't become a big one later?

[johnb838]

Yeah shooting our mechanics in the forehead could be considered "genuine (if misguided and foolhardy) resistance to an invader" I'm still waiting for someone to try and make that case.