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Black Watch rethink after attacks
The Black Watch battle group in Iraq are urgently reviewing tactics after the third attack on Camp Dogwood troops in five days killed a fourth soldier. The scale of the casualties and the attacks' "intensity and sophistication" have led to "searching questions", the BBC's David Loyn said, from the camp. He said the practice of troops going into villages in soft berets to gather information was being re-evaluated. But a Black Watch spokesman said the troops were "more determined". "While we mourn a lost colleague, the whole battle group has just been made more determined by this to complete our important mission," Capt Stuart Macaulay said. "Our thoughts are with his family."In Monday's incident, a Warrior armoured vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb just after dark, killing one soldier instantly and injuring two others. David Loyn said the blast was powerful enough to blow the vehicle off the road, taking the wheels off one side. He said flares immediately lit up the night sky around Camp Dogwood as the Black Watch battle group took up defensive positions to prevent any follow-up attacks by mortars or rockets. It followed two suicide car bomb attacks - one on Sunday, in which two bomb disposal experts were injured, and one last Thursday in which three soldiers died. Our correspondent said the Black Watch were under almost daily attacks and "now know that they are facing a much more sophisticated enemy than when they first came up here". Posted by: Bulldog 2004-11-09 |
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