- Title: IRAQ: BRITISH SOLDIER DIES IN ROCKET GRENADE ATTACK
- Date: 28th August 2003
- Summary: (W4) BASRA, IRAQ (AUGUST 28, 2003)(REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS, BRITISH SOLDIERS CHECKING IRAQI CAR AT CHECKPOINT (5 SHOTS) 0.44 2. WIDE OF BRITISH SOLDIERS INDICATING CAR TO STOP AT CHECKPOINT 0.51 3. SMV DRIVER GETTING OUT OF CAR 0.55 4. VARIOUS, BRITISH SOLDIERS SEARCHING CAR (2 SHOTS) 1.15 5. SMV BRITISH SOLDIER IN POSITION AT
- Embargoed: 12th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BASRA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAEP52URAFT97MMH7KKNKT1XN2J
- Story Text: A British soldier has died in a rocket-propelled
grenade attack 120 kms north of Basra in Iraq.
A crowd of Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades
and guns at a convoy of British soldiers in the south of
the country, killing one and wounding another, the British
military said on Thursday (August 28, 2003).
Part-time Fusilier Russell Beeston, a 26-year-old from
Govan, Glasgow, was killed. He was a member of the 52nd
Lowland Brigade, attached to the 1st King's Own Scottish
Borderers.
British Army spokesman Hisham Halawi told Reuters on
Thursday (August 28) the attack happened on Wednesday
evening when a British convoy came to a roadblock that
diverted it through the town of Ali Ash Sharqi, some 200 km
(120 miles) northwest of the city of Basra.
Around 30 Iraqis confronted the soldiers, who got out
of their vehicles, Halawi, said. Another crowd closed in on
them from behind.
When British soldiers fired two warning shots, the
crowd opened fire with small arms and rocket-propelled
grenades. Beeston was killed and another soldier was
wounded in the hand.
"As they were coming through Ali Ash Sharqi, they were
confronted by a crowd of about 30 people. There was an
exchange of fire between the soldiers and some members of
the crowd, and resulted in the death of one soldier and an
injury to the other soldier," said Halawi.
Halawi said 10 Iraqis were arrested. The convoy
returned to base with a helicopter escort.
The military set up checkpoints in Basra shortly after
the attack.
The death brought to 11 the number of British soldiers
killed in action since May 1, when major combat was
declared over in the U.S.-led war that ousted Saddam
Hussein. Sixty-four U.S. soldiers have died from hostile
fire over the same period.
The total number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq
since the start of May now exceeds the number who lost
their lives during the invasion and occupation in March and
April.
U.S. forces have generally faced much more hostility in
Iraq than their British counterparts, at least in part
because the Americans patrol Baghdad and Sunni Muslim areas
to its north and west that were bastions of support for
Saddam.
But the British troops responsible for mainly Shi'ite
southern Iraq have faced a testing time in recent weeks.
Three British military policemen were killed in an
ambush on Saturday in Iraq's second city of Basra, where
riots broke out earlier this month over fuel and
electricity shortages. A British soldier was also killed by
a bomb earlier this month.
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