The Siege
The first British soldier that was killed in the city, following operation Sinbad, was killed on February 27. The airport base was being constantly hit by mortar and rocket fire during the siege but the Basra City battlegroup at the palace was involved in most of the fighting. The Uti Triangle, a flat zone combining open wasteland, marsh and clustered buildings, was being used by the Mahdi army to conduct the mortar and rocket attacks on both the airport and the palace. More than 300 rockets hit the airport in the two months between June and August. Sniper attacks were also a deadly and common occurrence for British soldiers as well as IED attacks on patrols that were going out of the bases. The IED attacks and organised ambushes also hit convoys from the airport that were transporting needed food, fuel, ammunition and other equipment for the palace. Convoys were primarily used for this task because helicopters couldn't be used because of the high risk of being shot down.
Read more about this topic: Siege Of U.K. Bases In Basra
Famous quotes containing the word siege:
“One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)