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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/26/international/worldspecial/26MILI.html
Fighting Intensifies in Drive toward Baghdad; Uprising in Basra Reported
(New York Times) American forces killed at least 150 Iraqi soldiers on Tuesday after being attacked in a swirling sandstorm about 100 miles south of Baghdad, senior American military officials said. American troops had made their way to within 50 miles of the capital before the blinding weather on Tuesday snarled the allied push north. On Wednesday the sandstorms had eased, and heavy bombardment of Baghdad resumed. British military officers reported the first signs of popular uprising in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday. Saddam's security forces used artillery and mortar fire against civilian crowds who attacked them, military intelligence officials reported. Securing Basra and its population has become a political and psychological objective for the allies. On Tuesday, British commandos seized the "most senior" official of the governing Ba'ath Party in Basra and killed 20 of his aides and security guards, said a British army spokesman. Iraqi defenders stormed out of Basra Tuesday morning, attacking to the south with tanks and armored vehicles in a surprise countermove against British forces. But the Royal Marines called in airstrikes that destroyed the attacking column with rocket fire, British officials said.