LAP
25-03-03, 22:56
Revolt reported under way in Basra
Marines find Iraqi troops, weapons in Nasiriya hospital
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 Posted: 5:40 PM EST (2240 GMT)
BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- British commanders said it appeared a popular uprising against the ruling Baath Party was under way in Basra late Tuesday as British troops and tanks maneuvered under the cover of darkness near the southern Iraq city.
The commanders, with troops outside Basra, told reporters for the British network ITV that they had seen groups of 40 to 50 citizens at various locations on the streets and that British forces had taken out an Iraqi mortar firing on the apparent protesters.
But Iraqi Information Minister Mohamed Saeed al Sahaf told the Arabic television network Al-Jazeera that no revolt was under way.
The ITV reporters said British forces were preparing to enter the city if they determined such a move would be useful.
The residents of Basra, an important center of Iraq's Shiite population and Iraq's second-largest city, staged an uprising after the Persian Gulf War of 1991. But without backup from coalition forces that had driven Saddam Hussein's regime out of Kuwait, hundreds of thousands were killed.
In Washington, a U.S. official said there were "mixed reports" about a possible civilian uprising in Basra. "It's more like chaos than anything else," the official said.
Earlier Tuesday, British troops turned back a "battalion-sized" counterattack by Iraqi forces southeast of Basra and destroyed about 20 armored vehicles.
Elements of Iraq's 51st Division have massed at Basra, bringing artillery, tanks and infantry into some civilian areas. And about 1,000 irregulars of the Iraqi army have withdrawn into the city.
There also is a militia called the Saddam Fedayeen, dressed in civilian clothes, whose members are firing toward the British. There are reports that the Fedayeen, on the outskirts of Basra, are resisting with human shields in front of them
British troops also seized a senior Baath Party leader from his offices in Az Zubayr, southwest of Basra -- a move meant to inspire a popular uprising, said Col. Chris Vernon, British military spokesman in Kuwait City. 20 Iraqi militia members were killed in the raid, Vernon said.
"Whap, we're in. Whap, we're out, and 20 of them are gone," Vernon said.
The southern city of Nasiriya was also home to bloody battles, with machine gun fire, mortars, and helicopter units involved. U.S. officials said some U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians were killed, though they did not say how many. One U.S. Marine was wounded by friendly fire, officials said.
It was the third consecutive day U.S. Marines have battled Iraqi forces for control of the key north-south route. (Full story)
Marines also seized a hospital in Nasiriya and captured nearly 170 Iraqi soldiers who had been staging military operations from the facility, U.S. authorities said.
No civilians were in the facility, which U.S. Central Command said was "clearly marked as a hospital by a flag with a red crescent."
Marines confiscated over more than 200 weapons, more than 3,000 chemical suits with masks and Iraqi military uniforms in the hospital, and found a T-55 tank in the hospital compound, Central Command said.
Marines had been fired at from the hospital a day earlier.
Food and water for civilians
Coalition forces have begun trucking water from Umm Qasr, now under British control, to Basra, many of whose residents had been without electricity and water since Friday. (Full story)
The International Red Cross said 40 percent of Basra's water supply had been restored, according to U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart.
Once coalition forces better secure cities north of Umm Qasr, including Basra and Nasiriya, they will start delivering food, Renuart said at U.S. Central Command briefing in Qatar.
In Washington, the White House said once all mines are cleared from Umm Qasr, a "massive stockpile" of relief supplies will be delivered to the Iraqi people.
Iraqi Trade Minister Muhammad Mahdi al-Salih accused the coalition of preventing U.N. shipments of food and medicine in the Persian Gulf from reaching civilians.
Meanwhile, at least three large explosions hit Baghdad about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday (3:15 p.m. EST), less than half an hour after air raid sirens sounded the Iraqi capital.
U.S. troops continued to make inroads toward Baghdad, setting up a heavily armed column of coalition forces from Umm Qasr up the Euphrates River to south of Karbala, about 60 miles south of the Iraqi capital. (Full story)
Elements of the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Infantry Division fought off enemy fire and a blinding sandstorm Tuesday in pushing north of the Euphrates. The units crossed a bridge packed with explosives, but Iraqi forces had not rigged them.
Speaking at the Pentagon, President Bush saluted coalition forces for their "steady advance
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Marines find Iraqi troops, weapons in Nasiriya hospital
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 Posted: 5:40 PM EST (2240 GMT)
BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- British commanders said it appeared a popular uprising against the ruling Baath Party was under way in Basra late Tuesday as British troops and tanks maneuvered under the cover of darkness near the southern Iraq city.
The commanders, with troops outside Basra, told reporters for the British network ITV that they had seen groups of 40 to 50 citizens at various locations on the streets and that British forces had taken out an Iraqi mortar firing on the apparent protesters.
But Iraqi Information Minister Mohamed Saeed al Sahaf told the Arabic television network Al-Jazeera that no revolt was under way.
The ITV reporters said British forces were preparing to enter the city if they determined such a move would be useful.
The residents of Basra, an important center of Iraq's Shiite population and Iraq's second-largest city, staged an uprising after the Persian Gulf War of 1991. But without backup from coalition forces that had driven Saddam Hussein's regime out of Kuwait, hundreds of thousands were killed.
In Washington, a U.S. official said there were "mixed reports" about a possible civilian uprising in Basra. "It's more like chaos than anything else," the official said.
Earlier Tuesday, British troops turned back a "battalion-sized" counterattack by Iraqi forces southeast of Basra and destroyed about 20 armored vehicles.
Elements of Iraq's 51st Division have massed at Basra, bringing artillery, tanks and infantry into some civilian areas. And about 1,000 irregulars of the Iraqi army have withdrawn into the city.
There also is a militia called the Saddam Fedayeen, dressed in civilian clothes, whose members are firing toward the British. There are reports that the Fedayeen, on the outskirts of Basra, are resisting with human shields in front of them
British troops also seized a senior Baath Party leader from his offices in Az Zubayr, southwest of Basra -- a move meant to inspire a popular uprising, said Col. Chris Vernon, British military spokesman in Kuwait City. 20 Iraqi militia members were killed in the raid, Vernon said.
"Whap, we're in. Whap, we're out, and 20 of them are gone," Vernon said.
The southern city of Nasiriya was also home to bloody battles, with machine gun fire, mortars, and helicopter units involved. U.S. officials said some U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians were killed, though they did not say how many. One U.S. Marine was wounded by friendly fire, officials said.
It was the third consecutive day U.S. Marines have battled Iraqi forces for control of the key north-south route. (Full story)
Marines also seized a hospital in Nasiriya and captured nearly 170 Iraqi soldiers who had been staging military operations from the facility, U.S. authorities said.
No civilians were in the facility, which U.S. Central Command said was "clearly marked as a hospital by a flag with a red crescent."
Marines confiscated over more than 200 weapons, more than 3,000 chemical suits with masks and Iraqi military uniforms in the hospital, and found a T-55 tank in the hospital compound, Central Command said.
Marines had been fired at from the hospital a day earlier.
Food and water for civilians
Coalition forces have begun trucking water from Umm Qasr, now under British control, to Basra, many of whose residents had been without electricity and water since Friday. (Full story)
The International Red Cross said 40 percent of Basra's water supply had been restored, according to U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart.
Once coalition forces better secure cities north of Umm Qasr, including Basra and Nasiriya, they will start delivering food, Renuart said at U.S. Central Command briefing in Qatar.
In Washington, the White House said once all mines are cleared from Umm Qasr, a "massive stockpile" of relief supplies will be delivered to the Iraqi people.
Iraqi Trade Minister Muhammad Mahdi al-Salih accused the coalition of preventing U.N. shipments of food and medicine in the Persian Gulf from reaching civilians.
Meanwhile, at least three large explosions hit Baghdad about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday (3:15 p.m. EST), less than half an hour after air raid sirens sounded the Iraqi capital.
U.S. troops continued to make inroads toward Baghdad, setting up a heavily armed column of coalition forces from Umm Qasr up the Euphrates River to south of Karbala, about 60 miles south of the Iraqi capital. (Full story)
Elements of the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Infantry Division fought off enemy fire and a blinding sandstorm Tuesday in pushing north of the Euphrates. The units crossed a bridge packed with explosives, but Iraqi forces had not rigged them.
Speaking at the Pentagon, President Bush saluted coalition forces for their "steady advance
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