Posted on 03/26/2003 10:33:26 AM PST by 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
Headed southeast? Perhaps trying to get to the border and into Iran. Makes no sense otherwise, since they are moving away from Baghdad and away from resupply.
Heading toward the Gulf!?
This would have been a good scenario for a battleship.
Deja Vu all over again.
How does he know that those missiles weren't fired by the Iraquis?
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