NEWS: UK Military jailbreak from Basra

Confusion surrounds the arrest and detainment of two British soldiers in Basra and the ensuing violence where petrol bombs were thrown forcing British soldiers to flee their burning vehicles. Reports are sketchy and varied as to the cause but mention is made of the detainment of these two British undercover plain clothes, after their refusal to stop at an Iraqi checkpoint and possible injury of an Iraqi policement in a skirmish where shots were fired.



After the death last week of three British soldiers (details here) things appear to be hitting a new low. A glimpse of the depth of this recent event can be seen here;

TV pictures show soldiers in combat gear, jumping from one of the flaming tanks and making their escape.

It was these dramatic images which first alerted me to this event.

What grabs me most about this though is the confusion surrounding it. Relations between the UK and it's armed services, the police and officials of Basra appear to be completely chaotic. As yet I am still not sure what the British vehicles were doing there. From the disjointed reports (at the time) no-one was certain why they were , it was suggested on the 24hr BBC News channel that the purpose could have been to ensure the release of the two British troops currently being held.

How they were to do that seems open to speculation. If that is the reason it seems a very strong move indeed.



[edit on 19/9/05 by JAK]

Mmmmmmm... British "military" personnel wearing Arab clothes try to evade an Iraqi police roadblock and shoot a policeman in the ensuing firefight.

I wonder who these chaps really are?. I think it's unlikely they are part of the regular troop deployment

British Soldiers undercover? Hmmmmm I wonder who they could be.

How about the SAS for guess? If it is the SAS, then the media isnt going to broadcast that the SAS have had two of its men captured.

Not sure about SAS. I'd hope the SAS would not have been idiotic enough to get into that situation in the first place.

It cannot be regular troops that are there that are going undercover.

Not unless some of the Coldstream Guards decided to go to down town Basrah for a beer.

UK troops undercover says to me that they are SAS. We wont get to know either way anyhow.

It is highly doubtful it is the SAS.

From reports I have seen our soldiers have been looking into Police Officers in Iraq working for some of the terrorists and that is why this was done. The SAS are actually busy in Afganistan [atleast A and B are. C is training and D isn't deployed as far as I am aware and I live near the base...]

not sure about it being the sas guess we will never know. oh btw odium C squadron doesnt exist it was the Rhodesian SAS squadron and has not been active for years. The other SAS squadron is G (i believe its members are former soldiers from the guards regiments)

Just heard a news reeport that said tanks had broken down the prison walls to rescue the two "servicemen".

Looks like someone wanted these guys back real fast

The BBC's website has been updated:

UK soldiers freed from Basra jail

Clashes in Basra
UK forces used tanks to break down the walls of a jail where two British soldiers were being held in the Iraqi city of Basra, according to reports.

The soldiers' arrests had sparked clashes in the city in which British tanks came under attack and two civilians were reportedly killed.

Basra's governor said the demolition was a "barbaric act of aggression".

British officials said the men were back in UK forces' custody but would not say how this had happened.

Someone wanted these guys out pretty damned quick.

Jak


[edit on 19/9/05 by JAK]

Newsnight just reported the attacks on the tanks came prior to the jail break just so you know.

Confusion within the media again. BBC is reporting

Two British soldiers have been freed from the jail in the Iraqi city of Basra where they were being held after UK tanks smashed down a wall.

The Ministry of Defence denies its tanks deliberately demolished the wall and insist the men's release was secured through negotiations.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Bikereddie
posted on 19-9-2005 at 07:29

British Soldiers undercover? Hmmmmm I wonder who they could be.

How about the SAS for guess?

I guessed right here guys. Just found this new news report published today.

Link

It still is unclear as to why the soldiers were "undercover". What were they doing?

[edit on 20-9-2005 by Bikereddie]

Originally posted by Bikereddie

Bikereddie
posted on 19-9-2005 at 07:29

British Soldiers undercover? Hmmmmm I wonder who they could be.

How about the SAS for guess?

I guessed right here guys. Just found this new news report published today.

Link

It still is unclear as to why the soldiers were "undercover". What were they doing?

[edit on 20-9-2005 by Bikereddie]

I am not surpirsed its the SAS. they were more than likely doing anti-insurgency stuff.

Seeing as they were taken after the two Mahdi Army guys got nicked on the weekend and were handed over to Shi'ite Militia, seems as if they were going to be used as hostages. I imagine they opened fire when the corrupt police tried to make their arrest....hopefully more details will emerge about this, but I doubt it.

There is another thread, by ArchAngel, here, about 2 UK soldiers, dressed as arabs, that were arrested after shooting at a police station. They were said to be driving a car packed with explosives. The original source AA cited for the info, news.xinhuanet.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">here

This sounds like the same two soldiers, the ones who were rescued after their arrest.......see what you think.

Sounds a bit odd......what were they up to with a car full of explosives?

Originally posted by frayed1
There is another thread, by ArchAngel, here, about 2 UK soldiers, dressed as arabs, that were arrested after shooting at a police station. They were said to be driving a car packed with explosives. The original source AA cited for the info, news.xinhuanet.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">here

This sounds like the same two soldiers, the ones who were rescued after their arrest.......see what you think.

Sounds a bit odd......what were they up to with a car full of explosives?

Erm...car full opf explosives..I have read that thread and that part is bunk, which has been proved in that thread.

It was merely a reccy/intel op gone Pete Tong, as the Iraqi Police (which are NOT as impartial as they should be, by a long shot) were using them as bargaining chips to get two prominent Shia guys released who had been nicked for supporting insurgents.

The "Police" handed the two men over to local militia, that is why the Army went in and rescued them, what with the beheadings and tendency for these guys to kill their hostages.

There is a little interactive flash with the known details here.

It appears that the British were greatly concerned at the initial refusal from the authorities in Basra to submit to the instructions from Baghdad to release the soldiers as it is recognised that insurgents have infiltrated police and security forces.

National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, speaking on BBC programme Newsnight on Tuesday, admitted that:

Newsnight

Our Iraqi security forces in general, and these in particular and in many parts of Iraq, I have to admit that they have been penetrated by some of the insurgents, some of the terrorists as well, so I can't deny this.

Facts which are sadly backed up by recent events:

Iraqi journalist working with The New York Times is abducted and killed in Basra

ASSOCIATED PRESS 12:57 p.m. September 19, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq – An Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times was killed after men claiming to be police officers abducted him from his home in the southern city of Basra, the newspaper announced Monday.

Fakher Haider, a 38-year-old reporter covering Basra, was found dead in a deserted area on the city's outskirts Monday morning after his abduction late Sunday night.

While not going as far as Mohammed al-Abadi, governor of Basra who decried the event(s) as a “barbaric act of aggression.” Mowaffaq al-Rubaie did add that despite such concerns "They could have been freed in a much more peaceful, much more friendly and amicable way than that,"

An opinion not shared by Brigadier Lorimer, Brigade Commander of the 12 Mechanised Brigade:

Timesonline.co.uk

During the day we went to exhaustive lengths to achieve the hand-over of the soldiers. And in fact, as a result, we understand that the Iraqi Interior Minister personally ordered the release of the soldiers. However, that order seems to have been ignored.

Later in the day, however, I became more concerned about the safety of the two soldiers after we received information that they had been handed over to militia elements. As a result I took the difficult decision to order entry to the Jamiat police station. By taking this action we were able to confirm that the soldiers were no longer being held by the IPS. An operation was then mounted to rescue them from a house in Basra.

The full statement is available here: Basra breakout: army statement. Although it is also being said that the main incident was merely a cover for the simultaneous SAS rescue of the captured troops from a nearby location.
Times Online reports:

Police station raid was diversion as SAS squad rescued comrades

An SAS team used the noise of armoured vehicles bulldozing their way through a nearby police compound to mask the raid that freed their comrades.

The rescuers, from the same squad as the captives, blew out the doors and windows of the smart suburban villa with plastic explosive and hurled stun grenades at the militiamen guarding the two undercover soldiers.

A short, intense burst of automatic gunfire was heard before the men were freed and their captors were seen being dragged away, hoods over their heads and their hands tied behind their backs.

It has been suggested that the two soldiers at the center of these events were members of the new Special Reconnaissance Regiment:

New Special Forces Regiment for the British Army

Special Reconnaissance Regiment holds inaugural parade




www.regiments.org...

Special Reconnaissance Regiment - formed with HQ at Hereford from volunteers of other units to support international expeditionary operations in the fight against international terrorism, absorbing 14th Intelligence Company (formed for operations against Ulster terrorists), Intelligence Corps, and releasing the SAS and SBS for the "hard end" of missions

Jak

arab+explosives=terrorist

brit+explosives=.....


hmmmm, sounds like terrorists to me, no?

it still has not been confirmed the 2 soldiers were from the SAS and about the details of the rescue missions its all just speculation. There was talk that the soldiers might not even be british and that one had an american passport

Originally posted by stumason

Originally posted by frayed1
There is another thread, by ArchAngel, here, about 2 UK soldiers, dressed as arabs, that were arrested after shooting at a police station. They were said to be driving a car packed with explosives. The original source AA cited for the info, news.xinhuanet.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">here

This sounds like the same two soldiers, the ones who were rescued after their arrest.......see what you think.

Sounds a bit odd......what were they up to with a car full of explosives?

Erm...car full opf explosives..I have read that thread and that part is bunk, which has been proved in that thread.

It was merely a reccy/intel op gone Pete Tong, as the Iraqi Police (which are NOT as impartial as they should be, by a long shot) were using them as bargaining chips to get two prominent Shia guys released who had been nicked for supporting insurgents.

The "Police" handed the two men over to local militia, that is why the Army went in and rescued them, what with the beheadings and tendency for these guys to kill their hostages.

It was not debunked.

More than a dozen references say different.

Its simply not being reported in the Western media, and no one expected them too.

Its perfectly legal for the media in America to lie to you, so they do.....