Financial Times; Jun 26, 2003
Iraqis Explain Shootings: Shia anger at British search for arms
By Charles Clover in Majar
The main street in Majar, Iraq, is pocked with bullet holes and scorchmarks where a running gun battle between town residents and British forces claimed the lives of six British soldiers and five Iraqis on Tuesday.
In the courtyard of the police station, around the corner from the main street, the smell of cordite fills the air and shell casings can still be found on the ground. Five of the six British soldiers made their last stand there, residents say.
In all, it was the bloodiest day for coalition troops since the end of the military campaign in late April. In a separate incident on Tuesday, eight soldiers were injured, three seriously, when a British patrol south of Majar was ambushed and a helicopter sent to support them came under fire.
Yesterday British forces had withdrawn from the town, having pounded it on Tuesday with helicopter gunships, according to residents. The violence there served notice that an aggressive weapons confiscation campaign, begun throughout Iraq on June 15, could have serious consequences in the conservative rural Shia areas like Majar.
"They forgot we are Shia Muslims," said Haji Sami Jumi, a local tribal sheikh. "You cannot come into my house and see my wife. It is forbidden, and they know this perfectly well. We had great relations with the British, we always treated them with respect, but they must respect our rights as well."
The problem in Majar started on Sunday, when a dawn raid by British troops with dogs to confiscate weapons angered residents.
"They kicked down our doors," said a man named Abu Zahra, sitting at the police station yesterday. "When our dogs barked, they shot our dogs." The next day the town held a demonstration against the continued searches.
The majlis - town council - of Majar told the British commander in the town that they needed a week to hand over heavy weapons. Mr Zahra has a photocopy of the written warning they gave, insisting no further intrusive searches should take place. British army spokesmen declined to confirm this yesterday.
Then, on Tuesday, at around 7am, four British army Land Rovers drove into the town. Abdul Zahir, a grease-covered mechanic, witnessed the scene from his garage on the street. Two of the cars drove about 1km down the main market street, then, according to Mr Zahir, a dozen soldiers dismounted and began walking back in patrol formation.
Town residents said they were angry at what they saw as violation of an agreement forbidding troops to enter the town. Children started pelting the soldiers with stones and rotten vegetables.
When they reached Mr Zahir's garage, residents say, the soldiers started shooting in the air, and one soldier struck a child with his rifle butt.
A circle of stones and a white chalk mark in the shape of a corpse identify the spot where the first resident was shot. British forces said yesterday the attack on them was unprovoked; residents say the British shot first, hitting Tayseer Abdul Wahed, a pregnant woman, and an ambulance driver who arrived to attend to the injured boy.
"The British soldiers panicked. They began to aim their weapons at the people," said Mr Jumi. "We were defending ourselves after they shot four of our people."
According to residents, the family of Mr Wahed, a tribe named the Beni Malek, began to shoot at the soldiers at this point with Kalashnikov assault rifles. Mr Zahir saw a soldier tell the drivers of the two vehicles to get out, don gear, and begin fighting. He said the soldiers then split into groups.
"The five soldiers at the police station were surrounded," said Abu Zahir. "They fought for an hour, but in the end they were all killed, God rest them." The other soldier was killed near the cultural centre, residents said.
In all, 16 residents were injured and five killed.
"The soldiers fought very well," said Mr Zahir. "They were brave men, but we are born with guns in our hands, and no one can ever them away from us. Saddam couldn't and no one can."