Free Republic

OUTNUMBERED British soldiers killed 35 Iraqi attackers in the Army’s first bayonet charge since the Falklands War 22 years ago. The fearless Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders stormed rebel positions after being ambushed and pinned down. Despite being outnumbered five to one, they suffered only three minor wounds in the hand-to-hand fighting near the city of Amara. The battle erupted after Land Rovers carrying 20 Argylls came under attack on a highway. After radioing for back-up, they fixed bayonets and charged at 100 rebels using tactics learned in drills. When the fighting ended bodies lay all over the highway — and...

U.K. troops kill up to 16 Iraqis in battle The Associated Press 5/15/2004, 4:39 a.m. ET LONDON (AP) ? British troops killed up to 16 Iraqi insurgents in a gun battle after their patrol was ambushed in southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defense said Saturday. The ministry said that two British soldiers were wounded and an Iraqi was taken prisoner in the firefight that broke out Friday in the Maysan province, south of the city of Amarah. A spokesman said that a two-vehicle British convoy called for back-up after Iraqi forces reportedly armed with rocket-propelled grenades opened fire. The two...

AWOL Gallas in Ranieri bust-up Blues star flies off after saying he's still not fit Justin's back with SueDarkness singer tells of his love for ex Martine shows fighting spiritEast End star hits back at Hollywood critics Hot stuff for the summerMake a splash with the ultimate party gadget Ruthie, age 22, from KentSee loads more girls on our super cyber site Meet the last SamuraiWin a top night out for two plus DVD and player We salute you Heroes ... Our Boys should hold their heads high  FULL NEWS INDEX AROUND the world today, some 214,000 men and...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and British troops clashed Sunday with forces of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for a second day, and four Iraqis were killed in an explosion in a Baghdad market. Three British soldiers were wounded in a blast in Basra. Al-Sadr's militia fired mortar shells before dawn Sunday at the governor's office and other British positions in Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, a British official and residents said. No British casualties were reported in that attack, but British spokesman Maj. Ian Clooney said "a number of possible mortar positions" were destroyed. Clooney denied statements by...

<p>NAJAF, Iraq -- British soldiers beat back attacks by militiamen loyal to a radical Shi'ite cleric in southern cities yesterday, and U.S. forces stormed Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr's stronghold in Baghdad.</p> <p>Sheik al-Sadr's militia launched attacks in Basra and Amarah in an apparent attempt to open up new fronts after another cleric called for a jihad, or holy war, against British troops and promised rewards for the capture of coalition soldiers.</p>

British troops in Iraq faced new dangers yesterday as an aide to the leader of the radical Mahdi army called on followers to capture women soldiers as slaves and Osama bin Laden placed a bounty on soldiers' heads. Waving documents and photographs which he claimed were of three Iraqi women being raped at British-run prisons, he said $350 (£195) would be given to anyone who captured a British soldier and $150 for killing one. He told the 3,000 worshippers that anyone who captured a woman soldier would be allowed to keep her as a slave. Al-Bahadli is a close adviser...

British troops exchanged fire with militiamen Hundreds of Iraqi militiamen loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have clashed with UK troops in Basra. Members of his militia attacked patrols and set up checkpoints across the city in an apparent attempt to take control. The violence came a day after Mr Sadr's representative offered money for the capture or killing of coalition troops. The British military in Basra said two Iraqis had been killed, and three coalition soldiers injured in the violence. BBC correspondent David Willis says the fighting has now largely been brought under control. Headquarters surrounded Earlier militiamen...

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - British soldiers beat back attacks by militiamen loyal to a radical Shiite cleric in southern cities Saturday, and U.S. forces stormed Muqtada al-Sadr's stronghold in Baghdad. Al-Sadr's militia launched attacks in Basra and Amarah in an apparent attempt to open up new fronts after another cleric called for a jihad, or holy war, against British troops and promised rewards for the capture of coalition soldiers. Sheik Abdul-Sattar al-Bahadli, al-Sadr's main representative in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, fired up worshippers during Friday prayers with denunciations of U.S. abuse of prisoners and alleged rapes of Iraqi...

MORE than 2,000 Royal Marines will soon be on the way to the Iraqi hotspot town of Najaf and other positions in the centre of the country, it was confirmed last night. In a big expansion of Britain’s role in Iraq, Royal Marines from 3 Commando Brigade and also The Black Watch Regiment have been put on short-notice standby for Iraq. They are expected to deploy early next month. The first indication that the Government was nearing a decision on expanding Britain’s role in Iraq came from Tony Blair in the Commons yesterday, when he said that discussions were under...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A British foot patrol came under attack in the southern city of Amarah on Saturday, sparking a seven-and-a-half-hour gunbattle with insurgents in the city center that left five Iraqis dead and six British soldiers injured, witnesses and a British forces spokesman said. Witnesses said the five Iraqis killed were members of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army. The bodies of the dead were brought to al-Sadr's office in the town, they said. The clashes were ongoing Saturday night, said British Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Jonathan Arnold, a military spokesman. He confirmed the six British wounded...

Britain resists pressure to extend Iraq force By Patrick Wintour in London, and Luke Harding in Baghdad April 24, 2004 Britain's Ministry of Defence is resisting US pressure to extend its sphere of military influence in Iraq to some of the most violent parts of the country, including the capital, Baghdad. Britain is being leaned on by the US military, although no formal request has been issued, to provide a new headquarters unit in south-central Iraq to replace Spanish troops being pulled out by the new Madrid government. That would take British troops into the troubled town of Najaf, where...

Hundreds more British troops were today heading for Iraq as attacks on coalition forces continued. More than 300 members of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment have been ordered to join peacekeepers in southern Iraq, along with Territorial Army soldiers from the Glasgow-based 52nd Lowland Regiment. They will be responsible for helping to rebuild the infrastructure and for training Iraqi police and carrying out joint patrols with the fledgling new police force. Some 700 soldiers from the Wiltshire-based Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment have now left for Basra. They will form part of the 4,500-strong 1st Mechanised Brigade which is...

Army 'can't go to war for five years' By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 25/03/2004) Britain's Armed Forces will not be able to mount another operation on the scale of the Iraq war for another five years, the Chief of Defence Staff said yesterday. Gen Sir Michael Walker told the Commons defence committee that the Army in particular would not be able to recover from operations in Iraq until 2008 or 2009. "I think we have already accepted that we cannot do another large-scale operation now," he said. "We are unlikely to be able to get to large-scale much before...

Fourteen British soldiers were wounded, three seriously, and some set on fire when a demonstration turned violent yesterday in Basra, southern Iraq. At least one explosive device was detonated and a number of petrol bombs were thrown during the protest by people who had failed to obtain work with the police and security forces. Witnesses reported that some chanted the name of the Hamas leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, assassinated by Israel. They said: "We are all sons of Yassin." British troops face an increasingly violent stone-throwing crowd. Petrol bombs were also thrown A military spokesman in Basra said stones were...

Britain to send troops to Kosovo Agencies Thursday March 18, 2004 Britain will send a 750-strong military force to Kosovo after a day of ethnically fuelled violence in the province which claimed the lives of 22 people and injured hundreds. Following a request from Nato for extra troops, the Ministry of Defence will deploy the operational readiness force, drawn from the Hounslow-based first battalion of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire regiment, in the next few days. An extra 350 peacekeepers, mostly from Bosnia and Italy, have already been dispatched to control what Nato officials are describing as the worst...

A British soldier has been killed in a road accident at a military base in Iraq. The Ministry of Defence said Corporal Richard Thomas David Ivell, 29, a vehicle mechanic with the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers, was killed in a crash at the Shaibah Logistics Base. Cpl Ivell's death brings the number of British personnel killed in Iraq to 59. An MoD spokesman said: "There was no hostile action. It was an accident on the base." Cpl Ivell was from near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, and was married with three children. He had been serving with 2 Close Support Regiment of...

Britain's Prince Charles paid a surprise visit to Iraq Feb. 9, praising the British troops deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom for maintaining security in southern Iraq and supporting the war on terror. British Embassy officials in Washington said the prince arrived at the Al- Sarraji Palace compound in Basra — once Saddam Hussein's palace and now an operational headquarters for British troops — for the first visit by a member of the British royal family to Iraq since the former dictator's ouster from power. Some 9,000 British soldiers are serving in Iraq, with 4,500 of them based in Basra, forming...

HYTHE RANGES, England (Reuters) - The heavy commitment of Britain's army reserves in Iraq and elsewhere have stretched the part-time force to the limits, the commander of its largest infantry regiment told Reuters. With some infantrymen expected to leave and others to go into full-time soldiering on their return to the UK, the unit is launching a new drive to recruit part-time soldiers who are willing to go on operations overseas. In the past, many reservists -- who all have civilian jobs during the week -- believed they would never be sent to war but that has changed in recent...

UK troops return from Iraq saying Basra improved DHEKELIA, Cyprus (Reuters) - Several hundred British troops returned to their home base in Cyprus in heavy rain Friday after a six-week tour of duty in Iraq that they believe left at least their part of the country in better shape. A British military spokesman said the 325 troops, from the 2nd Battalion Light Infantry, would be replaced by a similar number from Britain and their return did not mark the start of a cut back in the 12,000 British troops in Iraq. The troops were based in and around the southern...

THE young mum who uncovered the Iraqi PoW sex snaps scandal said last night: “I felt sick to the stomach at those pictures.” Kelly Tilford, 22, called police after developing a film in her photo shop. The shocking pictures — revealed by The Sun yesterday — showed male Iraqis apparently forced into sexual positions by their British captors. In another a prisoner was suspended by rope from a fork-lift truck driven by a laughing Brit. Fusilier Gary Bartlam, 18, of Tamworth, Staffs, is being grilled by the Army’s top criminal investigator — amid fears the scandal is the tip of...