Saddam’s reign is over, says British commander

THE commander of the British forces in the Gulf yesterday said Saddam Hussein’s regime was “finished” in Basra following their troops’ “historic” action in the city.

However, Air Marshal Brian Burridge also told a military briefing in Qatar there would be "difficult days" ahead as some paramilitary resistance remained.

Large parts of Basra were in British hands but troops were still trying to bring Iraq's second city under complete control amid looting and sporadic fighting. At least 500 elite soldiers from The Parachute Regiment were yesterday sent in to Basra to clear out paramilitaries and fedayeen fighters. The presidential palace of Saddam Hussein in Basra fell to advancing British troops as they consolidated their hold on Iraq's second city.

British troops and local people were also buoyed by reports that the body of "Chemical Ali" the man who crushed the 1991 Basra rebellion, killed thousands of Kurds using chemical weapons and brutally repressed Kuwait after the 1990 invasion had been found.

Meanwhile, British forces unearthed a massive arsenal of weapons abandoned by Iraqi forces in the city.

The arms cache could have inflicted huge damage on the coalition forces entering Basra. Air Marshal Burridge said after decades "under the heel" of the brutal Iraqi regime, British forces were now in the process of liberating the people of Basra. He said: "There will be some difficult days ahead but the Ba'athist regime is finished in Basra."

The threat that the Iraqi regime posed to the world through weapons of mass destruction was "fast diminishing" and the coalition would continue until that threat was eradicated.

British forces moved into Iraq's second city en masse yesterday the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Challenger 2 tanks, the Black Watch in armoured vehicles and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers pushed into the city from the south west, and Royal Marine commandos came in from the south.

The original objective was to take the outskirts but resistance was found to be light.

Among the three British soldiers killed in the advance was Fusilier Kelan John Turrington, 18, a member of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and the youngest Briton to have died in the conflict.

Lance Corporal Ian Malone of Dublin, 28, a member of the 1st Battalion the Irish Guards was also killed in the battle for Basra.

Iraqis waved and smiled as the troops poured in, but did not stop in their business of looting.

The success of the troops saw a brutal response from civilians who turned on Saddam loyalists.

Several militiamen were seen being killed by lynch mobs.