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On
24 June last week, I informed the House that six Royal
Military Police soldiers had been killed, and eight
other United Kingdom service personnel had been wounded
in incidents in Iraq earlier that day. Since then, we
have been working hard to establish what took place.
It may be some time before we have a full picture; indeed,
we may never know with absolute certainty precisely
what happened.
However,
we will do all we can to establish the facts, and to
hold to account those responsible. Accordingly, we have
launched an investigation, and the Special Investigation
Branch have appointed a senior investigating officer.
We are also looking at the wider, operational aspects
of what took place, to determine whether there are any
lessons we need to learn. It may be some time before
this work is complete, and we do not therefore intend
to respond to every piece of media speculation or conjecture
in the interim.
It
would, however, be right for me to set out our current
understanding of events leading up to, and on the day
of the incidents themselves. In doing so I should point
out that our understanding may change as new information
comes to light.
The
RMP were engaged in assisting with the regeneration
of the local Iraqi police service, by ensuring that
they had proper training, equipment and infrastructure
to operate as professionally as possible. This task
included routine visits to police stations in the area.
The police station in Al Majarr Al Kabir is one of a
number that the RMP planned to visit last Tuesday.
Al
Majarr Al Kabir is a town of approximately 60,000 people,
situated to the south of Al Amarah, in Maysan province.
The town has always been fiercely independent and was
free of Saddam's regime by the time coalition forces
reached it. The main focus of military operations in
the area in recent weeks had been the implementation
of a weapons amnesty, and thereafter, the recovery of
illegal weapons.
These
weapons searches were unpopular with the local population,
although none had been conducted in the town itself.
Local religious leaders had called for further searches
to be resisted, and on 22 June, a 1 PARA patrol in the
town were faced with a hostile crowd of some 500 people.
The soldiers fired baton rounds in order to enable them
to be able to withdraw from the town. At a meeting the
next day, officers from 1 PARA agreed with the town
council that weapons searches would be suspended, and
that the council would themselves take responsibility
for recovering 'heavy' weapons.
With
this agreement in place, the following day the RMP section
'booked out' at around 0910, planning to visit three
towns in the area - Al Majarr Al Kabir being the first.
Routine force protection measures in place required
that they should all be armed, should have their body
armour and helmets with them, should have working communications,
and that there should be at least two vehicles - in
fact they had three.
We
judge that they would have reached the town at around
0940-0955, shortly before a 1 PARA patrol also entered
the town. We cannot yet be certain, but it may be that
the attack on the PARA patrol took place before the
attack on the RMP. The attack on 1 PARA commenced at
around 1030, when the patrol was stoned by a large crowd.
At some point a crowd also appears to have massed outside
the police station. While attempting to move their vehicles
inside the police compound, the RMP came under fire,
and it seems at least one of them was killed at that
point. The crowd evidently then stormed the police station.
British forces were informed a short while later by
local Iraqis that all six of the RMP personnel had been
killed.
We
understand that attempts were made to contact the RMP
section as events unfolded. This is one of the details
we will be trying to establish as part of the investigation.
In
the follow up to these incidents, Iraqi leaders in the
province are continuing to work closely with us. We
will not lose sight of our overall aim to support a
better Iraq, and an Iraq that is for the Iraqi people.
British forces in Iraq continue to do an excellent job
in taking this important work forward.
As
they do so, our thoughts remain with those that have
lost their lives, and their loved ones who mourn them.
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of Defence is not responsible for the content or availability
of external websites.
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