KashifAsrar
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As Britain remembers it dead, four more soldiers killed in Iraq13.11.06
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23374253-details/As%20Britain%20remembers%20it%20dead,%20four%20more%20soldiers%20killed%20in%20Iraq/article.do
As Britain remembered the fallen of two world wars, the conflict in Iraq added four more names to those killed in action. They died when their patrol boat was blown apart by a hidden bomb in Basra.
Three more of the crew, understood to be a mixture of Army and Royal Marines personnel, were seriously injured in the Remembrance Sunday atrocity.
It was the worst single tragedy to hit UK troops in more than six months. And it can only add to the growing demands for a speedy withdrawal from a conflict which few still support.
Defence Secretary Des Browne said: 'Today at the Cenotaph and across the country, we remembered those brave souls that have served this nation across the years. That dedication is still evident and the events today in Iraq are a stark reminder of the perils they face.'
It is thought the bomb was concealed in a pontoon on the Shattal-Arab waterway in Basra city - close to the Old State Building military camp where a British soldier was shot dead while on guard duty last week - and that it was triggered as the river craft passed by on a routine patrol.
While improvised bombs are used daily to attack road patrols in Iraq, this was the first time such a device has been used against a boat.
The Ministry of Defence was attempting to contact all next of kin before releasing further details of the attack, which came at 9.50am UK time, little more than an hour before the Remembrance Services. The British military death toll in Iraq now stands at 125, with hundreds more injured.
The latest bloody attack comes as the impetus appears to be growing in Britain and America for an early exit from Iraq, following President George Bush's battering in the mid-term elections.
The current surge in violence will make it all the harder for Washington and London to present a withdrawal as anything other than a defeat.
As well as the four Britons killed in Basra, three U.S. soldiers died yesterday while 52 civilians were killed in Baghdad in a horrifying bomb attack on a police recruiting centre plus a number of other incidents. A further 75 bodies were found on the streets of the capital, many showing signs of torture.
With the scene of the Basra attack sealed off pending an investigation, a British Army spokesman said it was still unclear how and where the bomb was positioned to attack the boat.
One possibility the experts will examine is that the attack was carried out from or supported by Iran.
British commanders are convinced that many of the weapons used to attack coalition forces are being smuggled across the nearby Iranian border.
A spokesman added: 'We will be carrying out a follow-up operation to target those responsible.'
The Shatt-Al-Arab is a 120-mile waterway fed by the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun rivers and flowing into the Persian Gulf.
For much of its length it forms the boundary between Iraq and Iran and is heavily patrolled by British forces to try to stop smuggling.
In 2004 the Iranians sparked a major diplomatic row by seizing three British patrol boats and arresting eight crewmen, accusing them of straying on to the Iranian side. The boats, along with sensitive electronic equipment, have never been returned.
Military analyst Colonel Mike Dewer said yesterday's attack showed how sophisticated the enemy had become and to what extent the military has to be constantly 'on its toes' in the area.
He told the BBC: 'I would expect they would be a great deal more circumspect about how and when they use river transportation.
'All they can do is continue to vary the operations, vary the routes and hope, in that manner, to be one step ahead of the enemy.'
He said the attack was particularly poignant coming on Remembrance Sunday but that it would not affect the morale of the soldiers. 'They will of course be sad, they have lost comrades, but their morale won't be affected. They will get on with the job.' Defence Secretary Browne said: 'My thoughts are with the families of the four service personnel so tragically killed today and of those who were wounded. This terrible incident reinforces in our minds the sacrifice made by the brave men and women of our Armed Forces.'
Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: 'On a day when we remember those who have given their lives for their country, this news is another reminder of the sacrifice that our brave Armed Forces make.'
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: 'On this particular-day these casualties are a powerful and poignant reminder of the difficult and dangerous tasks we ask our Armed Forces to undertake.'
The Ministry of Defence claims to have no accurate figures for the number of personnel injured in Iraq. More than 7,000 have been treated in military hospitals in Iraq, with almost 5,000 evacuated to the UK for medical or personal reasons.
Of those it is thought more than 300 were injured in combat, with around 50 suffering life-threatening injuries.
Ministers have also admitted that more than 1,300 British troops have developed serious psychiatric problems after serving in Iraq.
At the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, six-year-old Greg Jamison was given the honour of laying a wreath for the Royal British Legion in the bright autumn sun. He walked proudly beside his father John, 38, and elder brother Nathan, 12.
Mr Jamison, from Belfast, took his sons to the service in memory of their great-great-grandfather John Rea, who survived the Battle of the Somme. Mr Rea served in the 15th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles in the 36th Ulster Division.
An Iraq war widow was also chosen to lay a special wreath during the Royal British Legion parade.
Raqual Harper-Titchener, 31, lost her husband Major Matthew Harper-Titchener of the Royal Military Police, when he was killed in Iraq in 2003.
The mother of two said: 'It is an honour and a privilege to be marching here today. It is also recognition for Matthew and national recognition for all those who have continued to pay the ultimate sacrifice.
'I also feel that, for me, being here is about making the ceremony more relevant to younger wives as well as to older generations.'
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23374253-details/As%20Britain%20remembers%20it%20dead,%20four%20more%20soldiers%20killed%20in%20Iraq/article.do
As Britain remembered the fallen of two world wars, the conflict in Iraq added four more names to those killed in action. They died when their patrol boat was blown apart by a hidden bomb in Basra.
Three more of the crew, understood to be a mixture of Army and Royal Marines personnel, were seriously injured in the Remembrance Sunday atrocity.
It was the worst single tragedy to hit UK troops in more than six months. And it can only add to the growing demands for a speedy withdrawal from a conflict which few still support.
Defence Secretary Des Browne said: 'Today at the Cenotaph and across the country, we remembered those brave souls that have served this nation across the years. That dedication is still evident and the events today in Iraq are a stark reminder of the perils they face.'
It is thought the bomb was concealed in a pontoon on the Shattal-Arab waterway in Basra city - close to the Old State Building military camp where a British soldier was shot dead while on guard duty last week - and that it was triggered as the river craft passed by on a routine patrol.
While improvised bombs are used daily to attack road patrols in Iraq, this was the first time such a device has been used against a boat.
The Ministry of Defence was attempting to contact all next of kin before releasing further details of the attack, which came at 9.50am UK time, little more than an hour before the Remembrance Services. The British military death toll in Iraq now stands at 125, with hundreds more injured.
The latest bloody attack comes as the impetus appears to be growing in Britain and America for an early exit from Iraq, following President George Bush's battering in the mid-term elections.
The current surge in violence will make it all the harder for Washington and London to present a withdrawal as anything other than a defeat.
As well as the four Britons killed in Basra, three U.S. soldiers died yesterday while 52 civilians were killed in Baghdad in a horrifying bomb attack on a police recruiting centre plus a number of other incidents. A further 75 bodies were found on the streets of the capital, many showing signs of torture.
With the scene of the Basra attack sealed off pending an investigation, a British Army spokesman said it was still unclear how and where the bomb was positioned to attack the boat.
One possibility the experts will examine is that the attack was carried out from or supported by Iran.
British commanders are convinced that many of the weapons used to attack coalition forces are being smuggled across the nearby Iranian border.
A spokesman added: 'We will be carrying out a follow-up operation to target those responsible.'
The Shatt-Al-Arab is a 120-mile waterway fed by the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun rivers and flowing into the Persian Gulf.
For much of its length it forms the boundary between Iraq and Iran and is heavily patrolled by British forces to try to stop smuggling.
In 2004 the Iranians sparked a major diplomatic row by seizing three British patrol boats and arresting eight crewmen, accusing them of straying on to the Iranian side. The boats, along with sensitive electronic equipment, have never been returned.
Military analyst Colonel Mike Dewer said yesterday's attack showed how sophisticated the enemy had become and to what extent the military has to be constantly 'on its toes' in the area.
He told the BBC: 'I would expect they would be a great deal more circumspect about how and when they use river transportation.
'All they can do is continue to vary the operations, vary the routes and hope, in that manner, to be one step ahead of the enemy.'
He said the attack was particularly poignant coming on Remembrance Sunday but that it would not affect the morale of the soldiers. 'They will of course be sad, they have lost comrades, but their morale won't be affected. They will get on with the job.' Defence Secretary Browne said: 'My thoughts are with the families of the four service personnel so tragically killed today and of those who were wounded. This terrible incident reinforces in our minds the sacrifice made by the brave men and women of our Armed Forces.'
Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: 'On a day when we remember those who have given their lives for their country, this news is another reminder of the sacrifice that our brave Armed Forces make.'
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: 'On this particular-day these casualties are a powerful and poignant reminder of the difficult and dangerous tasks we ask our Armed Forces to undertake.'
The Ministry of Defence claims to have no accurate figures for the number of personnel injured in Iraq. More than 7,000 have been treated in military hospitals in Iraq, with almost 5,000 evacuated to the UK for medical or personal reasons.
Of those it is thought more than 300 were injured in combat, with around 50 suffering life-threatening injuries.
Ministers have also admitted that more than 1,300 British troops have developed serious psychiatric problems after serving in Iraq.
At the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, six-year-old Greg Jamison was given the honour of laying a wreath for the Royal British Legion in the bright autumn sun. He walked proudly beside his father John, 38, and elder brother Nathan, 12.
Mr Jamison, from Belfast, took his sons to the service in memory of their great-great-grandfather John Rea, who survived the Battle of the Somme. Mr Rea served in the 15th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles in the 36th Ulster Division.
An Iraq war widow was also chosen to lay a special wreath during the Royal British Legion parade.
Raqual Harper-Titchener, 31, lost her husband Major Matthew Harper-Titchener of the Royal Military Police, when he was killed in Iraq in 2003.
The mother of two said: 'It is an honour and a privilege to be marching here today. It is also recognition for Matthew and national recognition for all those who have continued to pay the ultimate sacrifice.
'I also feel that, for me, being here is about making the ceremony more relevant to younger wives as well as to older generations.'
What a guy!
