NZ troops to stay in Iraq base until calm returns

By KEVIN TAYLOR, REUTERS and NZPA

New Zealand's 61 Army engineers in Iraq are sheltering in their base camp as renewed violence and a wave of foreigner kidnappings grip the United States-occupied country.

Lieutenant Colonel Ants Howie, New Zealand's senior officer in Iraq, said yesterday that the troops would stay in the camp in the southern city of Basra until the situation calmed.

The decision came after the Arab news network al-Jazeera reported that one of the three Japanese being held hostage in Iraq would be executed today - and the other two within 12 hours - unless Japan agreed to new demands.

Al-Jazeera showed an interview with Mazher Dulame, a small-time Iraqi politician, who read from a handwritten sheet provided by the abductors.

He claimed he had spoken to the leader of the group that had taken the three, and had been able to deliver food and medicine to them and to a fourth hostage, believed to be American contractor Thomas Hamill.

The American, whose capture was filmed by Australia's ABC-TV on the Baghdad-Amman highway on Saturday, also faces execution.

Despite the grim developments, the New Zealand troops will remain in Iraq as long as they can perform their duties.

A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Mark Burton said last night that all Defence Force missions were constantly under review.

The spokeswoman said the engineers might need to stay in their base for short periods, but if they could perform their duties the Government would leave them to do that.

Last week the Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson, said the New Zealand contingent had no plans to abandon their mission, which is scheduled to end in September.

"New Zealanders aren't in the habit of cutting and running when the going gets tough," Air Marshal Ferguson said.

Colonel Howie said Basra was relatively calm compared with other areas.

The New Zealanders' base is a former Iraqi naval academy shared with British engineers.

"Essentially it's ringed by a whole lot of containers stacked next to each other, reinforced with the sorts of things that armies use to reinforce a perimeter," Colonel Howie told National Radio yesterday.

The engineers have been helping in Basra with rebuilding schools and water plants and other humanitarian aid.

But Air Marshal Ferguson said they always carried their rifles.

Fighting erupted in the town of Fallujah yesterday despite an informal truce declared the day before.

More than 600 Iraqis have been reported killed in Fallujah in a week of battles between US Marines and Sunni Muslim rebels.

Residents heard blasts and gunfire from one area of Fallujah for three hours before dawn yesterday as US helicopters flew overhead.

Iraqi fighters blamed the Americans for breaking the ceasefire.

They said they remained ready to meet Iraqi mediators to try to shore up the truce.

The US military has said it is prepared to "resume offensive operations" unless the talks make progress.

Three Marines were killed in combat west of Baghdad, the US military said, bringing to at least 470 the number of American troops killed in action during the Iraq war.

US forces have tried to crush a stubborn Sunni insurgency in central Iraq and are battling a revolt by Shiite rebels led by fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the south.

Rafa Hayad al-Issawi, director of Fallujah's main hospital, said he believed more than 600 Iraqis had been killed in the town.

The US military said it lost 14 troops over the weekend.

Herald Feature: Iraq