The Hindu : U.S.-led forces move into Basra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 23, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

U.S.-led forces move into Basra

Columns of smoke rise in the horizon of Baghdad on Saturday following U.S. bombardments. - AP

Southern Iraq March 22. United States and British troops moved into the strategic southern port city of Basra today and thousands of beleaguered Iraqi soldiers in the south surrendered in the face of the major push.

In Baghdad, more than 20 columns of dark smoke rose from points around the city after a day of intermittent explosions. Al-Jazeera television reported that the plumes were coming from fires that Iraqis had set to oil containers to obscure targets.

To the north, U.S. infantry and airborne units pushed over the desert toward central Iraq on the second day of the ground offensive.

U.S. aircraft bombed Iraqi tanks holding the bridges near Basra, a city of 1.3 million, and Iraqi forces responded with artillery fire. U.S. Marines captured an airport north of the city after a gunbattle.

Coalition forces moved through the southern port of Umm Qasr, a ``relatively well-defended city,'' a U.S. military official said. There is still some artillery fire, but the aim isn't to secure and occupy the city, but rather move through it enroute to Baghdad, the official said.

Fighting in Umm Qasr included street-to-street battles against soldiers wearing civilian clothes and using guerilla tactics, said the British military spokesman, Lt. Col. Chris Vernon.

Seeking to avoid further urban warfare, U.S. and British forces would not immediately storm Basra, Lt. Col. Vernon said. ``Military commanders do not engage in urban areas unless they have to,'' he told a news briefing. ``It was necessary in Qasr because of the port.' '

Earlier today, Baghdad was again targeted, one day after a massive U.S. aerial bombardment in which more than 300 Tomahawk Cruise missiles rained down on the capital. The nine-story Security Headquarters in the Iraqi capital took a direct hit, strewing bricks, masonry and glass across the street in the al-Salhiya neighbourhood.

As coalition troops advanced, an entire Iraqi army division — the 51st Infantry Division with 8,000 men and 200 tanks, a key unit in the defence of Basra — gave itself up, U.S. military officials said. This was the largest defection in a day when the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein's forces showed signs of crumbling.

American units advancing west of Basra have already secured the Rumeila oil field, whose daily output of 1.3 million barrels makes it Iraq's most productive.

Iraqis in the area mostly fought back with small arms, pistols, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Early today, more units were waiting in Kuwait to smash through any Iraqi resistance. Hundreds of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, Humvees and trucks were lined up in parallel columns waiting in single-file to cross the Iraqi-Kuwait border.

The U.S. and Britain suffered their first casualties on Thursday and Friday as they pushed into Iraq, with two U.S. Marines killed in combat and eight British and four American Marines dying in a helicopter crash that appeared to be accidental. There was no clear figure of Iraqi casualties.

A report from Ankara said Turkey had opened its airspace to U.S. warplanes bound for Iraq after 24 hours of tense gamesmanship during which it sought to win approval for its own military intervention in northern Iraq.

The Turkish military said today it had completed preparations for moving into northern Iraq, but denied reports that it has already sent a new commando unit into the area.

The military statement comes amid growing pressure on Turkey to keep its forces out of the volatile region. The U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has repeatedly urged Turkey to avoid any unilateral move into the area. Germany said today it would pull its crews from radar aircraft in Turkey if Turkish troops move into northern Iraq.

Turkey has said that its forces would enter the area to prevent any massive flow of refugees or to stop the creation of a Kurdish state. Turkey fears that a Kurdish state could inspire Kurdish rebels who battled the Turkish Government for 15 years, leaving 37,000 dead.

A report from London said tens of thousands of people marched in cities around the world or demonstrated outside U.S. military bases today demanding an end to the war in Iraq. — AP, AFP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

U.S.-led forces move into Basra

`Over 4 lakh Iraqis flee their homes'

`War will be on a scale never before seen'

Consensus eludes all-party meet

Curbs on recruitment

Two BSF jawans killed

Jayasuriya quits

SAF games put off

Mild tremor