Basra 'turns against Saddam

The population of Iraq’s second city was tonight attempting to throw off the shackles of Saddam Hussein’s regime, according to reports.

A popular uprising erupted in Basra, prompting the Desert Rats to go to their aid, journalists with British forces on the edge of the city said.

The long-awaited civilian revolt provoked a backlash from Saddam loyalists who opened fire with mortars and horizontal artillery fire, it was reported.

But their positions were bombarded by the Desert Rats.

The unrest began soon after British troops sent a signal to the nervous local population by seizing a senior official from Saddam’s Baath Party in a dawn raid which left 20 henchmen dead.

Allied forces on the outskirts of Basra have been hoping the local mainly Shiite population would seize the opportunity of the allied invasion to overthrow the hated Saddam machine.

Colonel Chris Vernon, a British military spokesman in Kuwait, said Allied troops were trying to build up the confidence of civilians in the 1.5 million population city.

After the 1991 Gulf War, a local uprising was encouraged by the US but then brutally crushed by Saddam without any intervention from the West.

But tonight coalition forces were poised to support the inhabitants.

Col Vernon said of today’s raid that netted the Baath official: “He was sitting there in his little building thinking great, have a good evening, have a good morning, then whack we’re in, whack he’s out and 20 of them are gone, just like that.”

The raid began just after dawn when a British Army Warrior crashed through the wall of a house in the town of Al Zubayr near Basra.

Bullets and rocket propelled grenades flew through the air as the occupants opened fire, but the men of D Company of the Black Watch had come in strength, reported Gethin Chamberlain of The Scotsman in a pooled despatch.

With rounds ricocheting off the ground in front of them, they poured out of their armoured vehicles, hitting the ground running and letting fly with everything in their armoury.

Major Douggie Hay, the man who masterminded the operation, said: “We planned it so we went in just as the light was up, giving us enough light to see where we were going but also to achieve some surprise.”

GMTV reporter Richard Gaisford said intelligence from the city suggested that local people had indicated they would like to welcome the Allied forces but were in fear of Saddam loyalists.

“Now it seems they have had the courage to stand up to Saddam Hussein and his regime and they will be supported by British forces,” he said in a pooled TV despatch.

As the uprising erupted British forces saw Iraqi loyalists directing horizontal artillery fire into the crowd, according to a pooled despatch by Martin Bentham of the Sunday Telegraph.

It is not known how many casualties were caused by the artillery fire, which British forces described as “horrific”.

Tank commanders from the Black Watch Battle Group were urgently seeking permission to intervene last night although action was temporarily delayed while the risks of causing further civilian casualties were assessed.

The three remaining battle groups in the Desert Rats were all scrambled on to standby and put on immediate notice to move to Basra.

One British officer said: “There has been a civilian uprising in the north of Basra. We have seen a large crowd on the streets. The Iraqis are firing their own artillery at their own people. There will be carnage.”

The civil disorder gave the troops of the 7th Armoured Brigade – the famous Desert Rats – the perfect opportunity to move into the city and take control of a battleground whose capture is vital to the allies, according to a pooled report by Greg Swift of the Daily Express.

Once intelligence of the uprising was passed to brigade commanders the order to assemble at forward attack points was swiftly sent out, he reported.

“After a day of peacekeeping duties, the Desert Rats suddenly found themselves placed on immediate standby to move forward and under the darkness of night hasty preparations for what could be a bloody and brutal conflict were made,” Swift said.