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ワシントンタイムズもイギリス軍被害はサダム「崩壊」後の最大規模で組織的の衝撃を論評
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20030624-111813-2874r.htm
June 25, 2003
Six British soldiers killed in Iraqi attack
By Steven Gutkin
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD -- Six British soldiers were killed in a police station in southern Iraq and eight were wounded in a nearby ambush yesterday, marking the deadliest day of attacks on coalition forces since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
The casualties were a shock to British troops occupying the largely Shi'ite south, which until now had been essentially free of the daily hit-and-run attacks plaguing American soldiers in central and western Iraq. British troops felt so secure they have been patrolling the country's second-largest city, Basra, without flak jackets or helmets.
In London, the British newspaper the Independent said the six were "massacred" inside a village police station where they had gone for a prearranged meeting.
Agence France-Presse, citing the British newspaper, said that up to 80 Iraqis were also believed to have been killed in a fierce firefight yesterday at Al Majar Al Kabir, near Al Amarah, 120 miles north of Basra.
The bodies of the military police were found by locals, who alerted the British army, the paper said.
The U.S. military said insurgents had increased their attacks on American and British troops: 25 over a 24-hour period, including a firefight in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, that killed three Iraqis and wounded an American soldier.
The violence fueled concerns that Iraq is descending into a guerrilla war despite U.S. insistence that resistance is local, not centrally organized.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, however, said coalition troops were succeeding in mopping up the resistance.
"They're making progress against the dead-enders who are harassing coalition forces," Mr. Rumsfeld said at the daily Defense Department briefing. "Just as they were unable to stop the coalition advance in Baghdad, the death squads will not stop our commitment to create stability and security in postwar Iraq."
British Defense Secretary Geoffrey Hoon told Parliament in London that the British soldiers -- military police on a mission to train Iraqi police -- were apparently killed in a police station in the town.
Earlier, a British army spokesman in Basra said the soldiers were killed by Iraqi fire.
Elsewhere in the same town, a large number of Iraqi gunmen opened fire on a British patrol yesterday with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and rifles, Mr. Hoon said. The British returned fire, and one soldier was wounded.
A rapid-reaction force, including Scimitar light tanks and a Chinook CH-47 helicopter, came to help the ground troops but also came under fire, Mr. Hoon said. Seven persons aboard the helicopter were wounded, three of them seriously, the government said.
Mr. Hoon said commanders were investigating whether the deaths and the ambush were connected.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, extended condolences to the families of the dead soldiers.
"These losses are a reminder that Iraq remains a dangerous place," Gen. Myers said at the Pentagon. "But we must continue to stand firm."
It was the deadliest day for coalition forces since May 19, when six U.S. Marines died, most in a helicopter crash and a vehicle accident.
The deadliest attack on coalition forces came March 23, the early days of the U.S.-led invasion, when Iraqis opened fire on a U.S. Army maintenance convoy near the southern town of Nasiriyah, killing 11 soldiers.
At least 18 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraqi attacks since May 1, when major combat was declared over. Most of the attacks have occurred in the belt of central and western Iraq dominated by Sunni Muslims, Saddam's strongest supporters.
Saddam loyalists, Sunnis and ex-army soldiers are suspected in the attacks. The Shi'ite-dominated south has been largely peaceful since the regime's fall. The Muslim sect was long repressed by Saddam and rose up in some areas as coalition forces invaded the country in March. Shi'ites have since assumed leadership roles in many regions.
Thus the British have not seen major violence for weeks.
"It's normally very quiet down here," said British Army Lt. Col. Ronnie McCourt, in Basra. "We've been here nearly two months now, and this is the first time people have been deliberately, consciously shooting at us."
British Army Capt. Dennis Abbott said the attacks "in no way reflects the general security situation" in British-controlled areas.
Forty-two British troops have died -- 19 in accidents -- since the war began March 20. Britain had suffered no confirmed combat deaths since April 6.
In other attacks Monday and yesterday, Iraqi insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. troops in at least three towns in western Iraq. In Baghdad, guerrillas fired a grenade near the headquarters of the U.S. administration, causing no injuries.
Late Monday, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the mayor's office in Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad -- the latest in a series of attacks against people seen as cooperating with the U.S. occupation.
American troops shot and killed one of the ambushers, U.S. officers said. But residents at the scene said the man killed was not involved in the attack and was caught in the cross fire.
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