British Forces Fight Tank Battle South of Basra

[MORTARDUDE]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...itain_basra_dc British Forces Fight Tank Battle South of Basra



By Peter Graff

ABOARD HMS ARK ROYAL (Reuters) - British forces south of Basra have blocked an attempted breakout by up to 50 Iraqi tanks seeking to press southward from the edge of the city, a British naval commander said on Tuesday.


Captain Alan Massey of the flagship aircraft carrier Ark Royal said British light tanks from the Queen's Dragoons' Guard and marines from two battalions on the Faw Peninsula had halted the advance of the Iraqi tanks overnight and on Tuesday morning.


"They were aided by small helicopter gunships and further surveillance helicopters stationed on board ships in Britain's amphibious task force off the Iraqi coast," he told Reuters.


"We can't attack them directly because of fear of collateral damage (civilian casualties) so we get them when they poke out," Massey added.


He said the helicopter and ground forces had destroyed five to seven Iraqi tanks in the fighting so far.


British troops have taken over all responsibility for southern Iraq (news - web sites) as U.S. forces press on toward the north in their campaign to oust President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


Earlier, a British spokesman at Central Command headquarters in Qatar said British troops would not enter Basra, Iraq's second city, to battle "Fedayeen" irregular Iraqi fighters.


"MILITARY IMPORTANCE"


"We're not going into Basra, it's simply considered a target," a British military spokesman at Central Command headquarters in Qatar told Reuters.


"The reason it is a potential target is because it has an enormous political and military importance in the area."


Brigadier Jim Dutton of the 3 commando brigade of the Royal Marines told Reuters an Iraqi unit of T-55 tanks was causing problems for the British at Abul Khasib, southeast of Basra, because they were hiding among houses.


The T-55 combines a high-velocity gun with a highly mobile chassis and a low silhouette. It was the former Soviet Union's primary frontline battle tank until the 1980s.


"They pose no real threat to us. They are not going to be able to advance but it is very difficult to winkle them out because of our collateral damage requirements," he told Reuters. "They are in built-up areas on the southern edge of Abul Khasib on the main east-west road that runs into Basra," he said.


Since the United States and Britain invaded Iraq last Thursday, British troops have been reluctant to engage in urban warfare which would endanger the civilian population.


"If we were prepared to flatten the houses we could destroy the tanks but we are not prepared to flatten the houses because that is not what we have come here for," Dutton said.


British Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie McCourt, also at Central Command, said: "All options are open to us. If you're going to put your hand into the hornet's nest you have to make sure you are fully protected. Close-quarter stuff (fighting) really would not be our first choice."


Iraqi resistance in Basra and the nearby port of Umm Qasr to the south has thwarted plans to distribute aid to Basra, which the United Nations (news - web sites) says faces a humanitarian crisis without the speedy restoration of adequate water supplies.





Tonnes of humanitarian relief supplies are waiting offshore to the south of Basra while British and other naval vessels try to clear mines from the waterways leading inland