London: In order to avoid a "fruitless" fight over the oil terminals, Iraqi
conscript soldiers at the strategic al-Faw peninsula shot their own officers, bodies
of whom were found by British troops.
British commandos moving in Iraq found a bunker full of dead Iraqi officers, with
spent shells from an AK-47 rifle around them, 'The Times' newspaper reported on
March 22.
The officers were shot in the chest at the oil terminals at the strategic al-Faw
peninsula in Southern Iraq, it said.
"Stuck between US troops and elite British Royal Marines, whom they did not want to
fight, and an Iraqi regime that would kill them if they refused, it was the
conscripts' only way out," 'The Times' said.
The British commandos collected more than 100 prisoners of war on March 21 from the
few square miles of the al-Faw peninsula, including a general in the regular Iraqi
Army and a Brigadier. They came out from hiding in a bunker after being fired upon
with two anti-tank missiles.
The first White Flag symbolising surrender was waved by three soldiers in a trench
just outside the complex's North gate, surrounded by the machine gun
fire.
"As soon as I saw their faces I knew they were genuine. They actually looked very
relieved they didn't have to fight any more... and became very pleased to see us
when they realised we weren't going to do any harm," said Corporal Fergus Gask, who
accepted the surrender.
He said groups of dishevelled Iraqis were standing up all around with their hands in
the air. "Everytime you turned around, a new trickle of silhouette emerged from the
horizon walking slowly towards us."
PTI
