Sitting ducks: Iraq insurgents target UK base/ IndependentUK

[TexasLawyer]

Sitting ducks: Iraq insurgents target UK base

The deaths of three RAF men in a single incident emphasises the increasing
vulnerability of Britain's remaining troops, concentrated at Basra airport.

By Raymond Whitaker and Sadie Gray
Published: 22 July 2007

Three British servicemen, one a reservist, who were killed last week in a rocket attack on Britain's main base in southern Iraq were named yesterday by the Ministry of Defence. The deaths of Senior Aircraftsmen Matthew Caulwell, Peter McFerran and Christopher Dunsmore last Thursday brought the British toll in Iraq since 2003 to 162.

The loss of three Royal Air Force men in a single incident emphasised the increasing vulnerability of Britain's 5,500 remaining troops in southern Iraq as they are concentrated in one place, the Contingency Operating Base at Basra's airport. It will be Britain's only base in Iraq once Basra Palace, the last outpost within the city, is handed over to Iraqi forces.

But the airport base has come under increasing attack from insurgents as British forces have withdrawn there, with mortars or rockets landing within the perimeter up to 10 times a day. Some troops sleep in "hard accommodation", but the majority are in tents, with breeze-blocks stacked around each bed to contain blasts.

The chances of causing casualties are remote, since the base is dispersed across a wide expanse of desert and the insurgents are firing blind from several miles away. But there is virtually no protection from a direct hit.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2790976.ece

[ellisonz]

1. Lazy Brits need to dig some bunkers.