(25 Mar 2003)
Outskirts of Basra, southern Iraq
1. Various British troops firing shells towards Basra
2. Zoom in to troops on the ground
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sergeant George Hume, Royal Horse Artillery:
"The Fedayeen (guerillas loyal to Saddam Hussein) and his special police forces are putting up a struggle. And as that struggle becomes more assymetric, more terrorist-like in its nature, it becomes harder for us, configured here as conventional forces, to fight against it."
4. Thick black smoke rising from outskirts of Basra
5. Various of smoke and burnt out Iraqi tanks in desert
6. Driving shot from tank to thick black smoke rising ahead
7. Close shot soldier driving in tank
8. Destroyed Iraqi tanks in desert
9. Wide shot abandoned Iraqi tank and troops walking towards it
10. Wide shot tank exploding (controlled explosion by British troops)
11. Troops walking into dug out where seized weapons are being held
12. Various seized ammunition
13. Various bulldozers covering up abandoned weapons cache
14. Various troops in desert
15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Gunner Neil Hughes, Royal Horse Artillery:
"There's some tanks refueling - five or six of them - but we couldn't engage them because they were right next to a built up area, a hospital, so we just couldn't engage them, so it was left to other means."
16. Zoom in to artillery in British tank
17. Wide shot British tank
18. Various British troops sitting on ground
19. Pan of landscape to British tank in position
STORYLINE:
British forces on the outskirts of Basra on Tuesday, targetting Iraqi tanks and artillery.
A British military officer said that forces killed about 20 Iraqi fighters and seized a senior Baath Party politician near Iraq's second largest city.
Speaking in Kuwait, Col. Chris Vernon said British forces also repelled an Iraqi counterattack by several thousand Iraqi irregulars, moving southeast toward the Al Faw peninsula and the 3rd Commando Brigade.
But coalition efforts to secure Basra have not been straightforward.
Troops say some targets are off limits because they are too close to civilian areas.
Gunner Neil Hughes from the Royal Horse Artillery says they saw some Iraqi tanks "but we couldn't engage them because they were right next to a built up area, a hospital."
The tactics of some Iraqi units in the city are also changing, say coalition forces, making it harder to engage them.
Sergeant George Hume from the Royal Horse Artillery says the: "struggle becomes more assymetric, more terrorist-like in its nature, it becomes harder for us, configured here as conventional forces, to fight against it."
The units inside Basra that coalition troops are believed to be facing are members of Saddam's Fedayeen, the Baath party paramilitary organization, as well as elite Republican Guard units.
Until now coalition forces say they have avoided firing into the centre of the city, even though Vernon says they are being fired "from the centre by their artillery."
While the fighting continues British troops on the outskirts of the city have found several ammunition dumps, stacked with shells and missiles, abandoned by Iraqi troops.
On Tuesday, they sealed the dump on Tuesday so they no longer pose a threat.
British troops have been battling the irregular Iraqi troops for two days - and there is no knowing how long the fight for Basra will continue.
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