IRAQ: TOWN WHERE GUNMEN KILLED SIX BRITISH SOLDIERS NOW QUIET WITH NO SIGN OF BRITISH FORCES

Record ID: 377061

  • Title: IRAQ: TOWN WHERE GUNMEN KILLED SIX BRITISH SOLDIERS NOW QUIET WITH NO SIGN OF BRITISH FORCES
  • Date: 1st July 2003
  • Summary: (U6) MAJJAR, SOUTHERN IRAQ (JUNE 29, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV STREET SCENES; SLV SCHOOL WHICH WAS ALSO A SCENE OF FIGHTING WHEN GUNMEN KILLED SIX BRITISH SOLDIERS; SCU / MV BULLET HOLES AND DAMAGE TO SCHOOL (8 SHOTS) 0.44 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EDUCATION COUNCIL MEMBER, TALAL AHMED SAYING "After they completed their search in the area they started s
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MAJJAR, 30KM SOUTH OF AMARAH, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVADEWSLB9PDOVDX7OZQ2KVOMSNK
  • Story Text: The small town of Majjar, about 380 km (240 miles)
    south of Baghdad, where gunmen killed six British soldiers
    last week was quiet on Sunday with no sign of British forces
    in the town. Local residents put up banners asking the British
    to apologise and compensate the victims.

    In Majjar, about 380 km (240 miles) south of Baghdad,
    there was no sign on Sunday (June 29) of British forces in the
    town where gunmen killed six British soldiers last week.

    Local residents said that they had reached an agreement
    with the British about weapons. A force of 500 troops returned
    to Majjar on Saturday (June 28) where commanders met a
    delegation of Shi'ite Muslim clerics and local dignitaries.

    The troops told residents they wanted to help them
    re-establish their community, not punish them.

    The town still bears scars from the fighting including
    this school near the police station which has bullet holes all
    over its walls.

    Local resident say the whole incident was provoked by
    disrespectful behaviour from the British soldiers.

    "After they completed their search in the area they
    started searching houses which had nothing to do with weapons.

    They were going though people's private belongings and what
    they did was very provocative and intimidating," said Talal
    Ahmed, a member of the local Education council.

    The Majjar killings were the first British deaths in an
    attack since the toppling of Saddam on April 9. Until last
    Tuesday the British occupation of southern Iraq, populated
    mainly by the country's majority Shi'ites who were oppressed
    by Saddam for a quarter of a century, had been largely
    peaceful.


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