An SAS soldier was killed in Iraq in a gunfight early yesterday during a covert operation in the Baghdad area, sources said last night.

The Ministry of Defence, which does not comment officially on the activities of the UK's special forces, said only that a British soldier was shot and killed in Iraq. A spokesman said his next of kin had been informed.

The MoD said the family had asked that no further information be released. His death brings the total number of British military casualties in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003 to 176.

The soldier died as a result of gunshot wounds "sustained during a firefight in the early hours of Wednesday", the ministry said. However, it made clear that the soldier was not killed in Basra, where 4,100 of the 4,300 British troops still in Iraq are based. None of those soldiers have combat roles in the Iraqi forces' crackdown against rogue elements of Shia militia and criminals.

There are some 200 British soldiers in Baghdad, mainly on guard duty, but SAS soldiers - whose main task has been to track down al-Qaida fighters and kidnappers - are also active in the area.
Anonymous | 03.27.08 - 2:24 am | #

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Explosions could be heard every 10 or 15 minutes in Basra, epicenter of an Iraqi government crackdown on followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, on Thursday.
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Authorities imposed curfews across southern Iraq in an effort to halt the spread of violence after the largest military offensive carried out by Iraqi forces without major backing from U.S. or British combat units.

More than 100 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in clashes which have divided Iraq's majority Shi'ite community and wrecked a ceasefire declared last year by Sadr.

Residents of Basra, Iraq's second largest city and main oil centre, have described the fighting as the worst since the U.S. invasion in 2003. Clashes have spread to the southern cities of Kut, Hilla, Diwaniya, Amara and Kerbala, as well as Shi'ite neighborhoods of Baghdad.

"We have been living for the last hours in hell. We have spent most of the time hiding under the staircase," said Basra resident Faris Hayder, 28. "We haven't seen anything like this since the foreign troops arrived in 2003."

Basra's police chief survived an assassination attempt overnight. A roadside bomb killed three of his bodyguards.

Hundreds of Sadr followers were gathering in Baghdad neighborhoods for demonstrations to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Sadr's aides say the ceasefire is still formally in place despite the fighting. He has called on his followers to stage a campaign of "civil disobedience," forcing schools, universities and shops to shut, and has threatened to declare a countrywide "civil revolt" if the two-day-old crackdown is not halted.

Ali Bustan, head of the health directorate for eastern Baghdad, said 39 bodies and more than 200 wounded had been brought to two hospitals in Sadr City, the vast Shi'ite slum named for Sadr's slain father and the cleric's main power base.

Mortar bombs, most apparently fired from the Sadr City area, have exploded across Baghdad for days. Mortars killed at least nine people on Tuesday and wounded dozens, including four inside the Green Zone fortified diplomatic and government compound.
bob | 03.27.08 - 4:44 am | #

is this genuine??

Insurgents Fire Rockets, Green Zone

http://www.liveleak.com/view? i=4...=486_1206587067
bob | 03.27.08 - 4:47 am | #

RAW VIDEO: Basara fighting

http://www.liveleak.com/view? i=4...=4c6_1206567962
bob | 03.27.08 - 4:58 am | #

BAGHDAD, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Two American soldiers were killed in two attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

A soldier assigned to Multi-National Division-Baghdad died of fatal wounds sustained from a small-arms fire attack on his combat patrol in the Iraqi capital at around midnight (2135 GMT), a U.S. military said.

Another soldier assigned to the same unit was killed by "hostile fire" at about 4:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) in the eastern Baghdad, another statement said.
bob | 03.27.08 - 5:01 am | #

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq

Thursday , 27 /03 /2008 Time 1:10:41



Basra, Mar 27, (VOI) - Unidentified gunmen blew up an oil pipeline in al-Zubeir region in western Baghdad on Thursday morning, eyewitnesses said.


“At 9 am, unknown gunmen booby-trapped an oil pipeline carrying oil to the Basra port in al-Rashidiya region before detonating it,” an eyewitness told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).
“The explosion caused a huge fire in the region, and firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire,” he added.
Basra is 590 km south of Baghdad.


http://66.111.34.180/look/englis...e=2& NrSection=1
bob | 03.27.08 - 5:03 am | #

BAGHDAD - Shiite militants are hammering the U.S.-protected Green Zone with rockets and mortars for the fourth day this week.

Thick, black smoke is billowing from inside the heavily fortified home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government.

Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo says no one has been injured in Thursday's attacks.
Anonymous | 03.27.08 - 6:43 am | #