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| Iraq |
| Danish Soldier Killed in Battle with Iraqi Looters |
| 2003-08-17 |
| A Danish soldier and two Iraqis were killed in southern Iraq in a gun battle between troops and a group of looters stealing power cables. Major Ian Poole said a routine Danish patrol west of Basra on Saturday evening had tried to arrest eight people he said had been looting copper cables. Shots were fired and in the ensuing gun battle one soldier and two of the Iraqis were killed. The six other Iraqis were detained. Big mistake for them. You really don’t want to be interrogated by a Dane, from what I’ve read. A Danish spokesman, quoting Danes from the patrol who had been questioned by a Danish investigator, said Lance Corporal Preben Pedersen, 34, might have been killed accidentally by one of his comrades. "Soldiers involved in the shooting said that it could have been an accidental shot," Kim Gruenberger, press officer at Denmark’s Army Operational Command, told Reuters. The Danish death was the first fatality of a coalition soldier from a country other than the United States or Britain since the start of the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein. Denmark supported the U.S.-led war — a decision that split both politicians and the people — and provided a submarine and a ship and now has 420 Danish troops stationed in southern Iraq, part of a multinational force in the area. The Danish forces include a light infantry unit, medical staff and a mine clearance unit. British soldiers are responsible for policing Basra and surrounding towns. Defense Minister Svend Aage Jensby told Danish television Pedersen’s death would not prompt Denmark to bring its troops home, recalling no troops were brought home after three Danish soldiers died in Afghanistan in March last year. Urging the United Nations to take a more central role in Iraq from now on, he said he expected the need for military presence in Iraq to remain. "For a long time ahead there will be the need for considerable military engagement in the country," he said. And a big, heartfelt thank you to the Danes for helping us in both Iraq and Afghanistan. True friends. Rampant looting of copper cables in southern Iraq is one of the causes of a power crisis in the region that sparked violent protests in Basra last weekend. Someone needs to explain to these fools that they’re only hurting themselves by looting power cables. If that doesn’t work a shoot-on-sight order might be needed. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 need to get some power in those cables...kinda slows the theft rate. |
| Posted by: john 2003-8-17 10:40:31 PM |