British battalion 'attacked every day for six weeks'

[floda]

British battalion 'attacked every day for six weeks'
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 13/06/2004)


An infantry battalion serving in Iraq has been awarded the dubious distinction of having been attacked more times than any British Army unit since the Korean War.



The officers and men of the 1st battalion of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment have been "in contact" with enemy forces on more than 250 separate occasions since they arrived in Iraq six weeks ago.

The regiment, which recruits troops from the southern Home Counties, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands, has sustained more than 40 casualties - 21 of whom have been evacuated back to Britain, where they are being treated for gunshot or shrapnel wounds in civilian hospitals.

Despite the number and ferocity of the attacks there have been no fatalities. The battalion of 700, which is based in a bombed-out former Iraqi army camp at Abu Naji, south of Al Amarah, in the Maysan province of southern Iraq, has been under daily mortar attack for the past six weeks.

more..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/13/wirq113.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/13/ixworld.html

[teryang]

1. Could these attackers be nationalists?

Or are they just "terrorists and gangsters" attacking an invader who covets Iraqi resources and evinces no intention of leaving?

Here's a freudian slip:

<The level of anti-terrorist activity directed against British forces in the area has led to an additional 370 members of the 1st battalion of the Black Watch and Royal Engineers being deployed to help secure Route 6.>