Iraqi paramilitaries 'used children as human shields'

Iraqi Fedayeen paramilitaries used children as human shields during a battle with British troops, a British tank commander has claimed.

Sergeant David Baird, who commands a Challenger 2 tank from C Squadron of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards battle group, said he had witnessed at least four or five children, aged between five and eight, being grabbed "by the scruff of the neck" and held by Iraqi fighters as they crossed a road in front of his tank.

Sgt Baird said he had been "sickened" by the tactics of the Iraqis, who moments earlier had been firing rocket-propelled grenades at his tank. He said he had been forced to halt any retaliatory fire because of the danger to the children's lives.

"We were just to the south-east of Basra and were being fired on by rocket-propelled grenades. I could see the Iraqis ahead of us at a crossroads. They were wearing black jump-suits with red shamaghs – they were Fedayeen and I was preparing to fire at them.

"They were crossing the road to try and outflank us on the left and, as they crossed, four or five of them grabbed kids by the scruff of their necks and dragged them across with them. They were using them as human shields so that I had to stop firing. The children were only five to eight years old. There were lots of women and children there. It was a busy crossroads, but they didn't seem to care."

Sgt Baird said that when the Iraqi fighters had crossed the road the children were freed and allowed to run back to their mothers. He then fired at the building in which they were sheltering, destroying the building and killing about six of them.

Shortly after, however, his tank was crippled after being hit by up to eight rocket-propelled grenades and an anti-tank missile. The sighting system and his machine gun were destroyed, and the tank was knocked on to its side. "I was too far away to use my machine gun so I asked permission to go forward and got it," he said. "I was just past one of the buildings and they fired a rocket-propelled grenade which hit the driver's side. I reversed and my commander's periscope got hit by another RPG.

"Then the vehicle veered into a ditch and got hit by a further six RPGs and an anti-tank guided weapon. They were trying to disable my sights and my machine gun. I was scared.

"Then I felt better when my troop leader called up and my squadron leader called up to rescue us and to retrieve our tanks. The squadron leader was very calm. He just walked over to us even though there were rounds going off all over."

Sgt Baird witnessed the children being used during a battle on Sunday fought by Royal Marines and tanks from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards which resulted in two villages, Kut Ibrahim and Kuj al-Mun, being captured. Both are suburbs south of Basra.

Gunner Stuart Ferguson, 23, from Glasgow, also witnessed the children being used as human shields. "The Iraqis were walking across the road with AK-47s and RPGs in one hand and kids grabbed by the back in the other. I couldn't believe it. I was dumbfounded.

"I couldn't believe that they were going to such lengths. I could see they were kids, wee girls and wee boys, they were really young."

Sunday's action resulted in extensive British successes and has left troops positioned within sight of southern Basra. Soldiers from the Desert Rats, 7th Armoured Brigade of which the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are part, are also camped out on the western edges of the city, awaiting the order to attack.

Filed as a pooled dispatch by a reporter from the 'Sunday Telegraph'