Bloodiest month: UK suffers largest post-war losses
The month of May 2006 represented the bloodiest month yet for UK forces since they invaded Iraq three years ago, leaving 11 troops dead and many more injured.
Calls for troops withdrawal are now coming even from former defence officials.Doug Henderson, a former defence and foreign minister, called for an "orderly withdrawal" of British forces. " It is very difficult for our troops. There is no sense of the job being done," he said.
Defence Secretary Des Browne has spoken of a "spike" in violence in the region and admitted that it is a "major concern."
Peter Kilfoyle, a former armed forces minister, added: "A decision has to be made very shortly whether we are serving any useful purpose in Iraq any longer. I don't believe that is the case."
However, Browne seemed unable to explain the sudden rise in violence saying it was either related to the hiatus of political control since the Iraqi elections or a sustained increase in resistance.
No matter what explanation they choose to give, the simple fact is that the establishment of a new Iraqi government has not produced the calm that Blair and Bush predicted. Indeed, the violence appears to be increasing rather than diminishing.
Listed below are the grim reality of life for the British troops in Iraq circa May 2006:
Bloodiest MonthSaturday, 6 May
A Lynx helicopter crashes in Basra, killing five British troops. They include:
Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill, 32, first woman killed in action
Wing Commander John Coxen, 46, the most senior British officer killed in Iraq
Lieutenant Commander Darren Chapman, 40
Captain David Dobson, 27
Marine Paul Collins, 21, all of the 847 Naval Air Squadron in Yeovilton
Saturday, 13 May
A roadside bomb explodes just outside Basra, killing two soldiers
Private Joseva Lewaicei, 25
Private Adam Morris, 19, both from the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment
Monday, 15 May
In the heaviest attack on British troops for many months, three female Privates receive shrapnel injuries when the small British camp in Maysan is pounded by 56 mortars and rockets. An officer describes the scene as " carnage". A fourth
soldier is seriously injured and taken to military hospital. Five more female soldiers are treated for shock.
Saturday, 20 May
Two British soldiers are wounded by an early-morning roadside bomb attack while on patrol in north-west Basra, their unit ambushed with bombs, grenades and petrol bombs. A mob surrounds the burning vehicle - one Iraqi brandishes a British helmet.
Sunday, 28 May
An armoured Land Rover on routine patrol in Gizayza, north west Basra is struck by a roadside bomb. Two are killed.
Lieutenant Tom Mildinhall, 26
Lance Corporal Paul Farrelly, 27, both of the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Cavalry)
Monday, 29 May
Two British TV journalists are killed in a car bomb attack in Baghdad. Their colleague, Kimberly Dozier, is critically injured.
Soundman James Brolan, 42, of Tufnell Park, north London.
Paul Douglas, 48, of Wootton, Bedfordshire.
Click title for full article.
No comments:
Post a Comment