British commandos secure Faw oil facilities

8.30PM

ABOARD HMS ARK ROYAL - British commanders say a seaborne assault on southern Iraq overnight (local time) was a success, putting its marines in control of key oil installations on the coast.

Royal Marine commandos opened their ground war on Iraq before dawn with an airborne and amphibious assault on the coast, around the Faw peninsula, landing by helicopter from land and sea to secure Iraq's main oil pipeline terminals.

"It went extremely well. We are now consolidating the objectives," Colonel Steve Cox, commander of the landing force, told Reuters aboard the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal.

"All our targets were successfully captured," he said. "The main thing now is sorting the mess out in the daylight, make sure all the sites are protected and assess the local situation."

A number of Iraqi troops had been killed in air strikes and sporadic firefights, and scores had surrendered, he said.

"We just don't know how many (have surrendered). There's guys popping up all over the place," he said.

Television footage showed demoralised Iraqis in civilian clothes, apparently troops, surrendering to British commandos on a road. It also showed an Iraqi waving a white flag as a marine checked him for weapons, and a column of prisoners walking with their hands on their heads.

By dawn, no British or other troops involved in the assault had been killed on the ground, Cox said.

The attack began with aircraft dropping satellite-guided bombs, and an artillery barrage from across the waters in Kuwait.

Special forces teams moved in first, followed by several companies of marines, airlifted from staging grounds in Kuwait where they landed several days ago from aboard ships.

Another company of marines was airlifted from the deck of the carrier itself, veering off into the sky in three waves of Sea King and Chinook helicopters in the hours before sunrise.

Hunched under the weight of backpacks, their faces smeared with camouflage war paint and their helmets hung with night-vision goggles, the marines were raised by hydraulic lift from the aircraft hangar onto the flight deck to board their helicopters.

Below, another wave gathered their gear in the hangar under dim red light designed not to ruin their night vision. Their painted faces showed signs of adrenalin.

"It's exciting. It's odd. I've been watching the news for four hours. Now I am going to be part of the news," said one.

A British television cameraman who was allowed to fly in and back out again on one of the troop-carrying Chinooks said he had seen the marines in control of a road. Nearby, a destroyed vehicle was surrounded by the charred bodies of several Iraqis.

Reports on the British flagship's public address system said the first marine companies had succeeded in securing their three main targets -- an oil metering station and two pipeline outlets that account for virtually all of Iraq's exports of oil by sea.

The Faw peninsula forms the small coastline between the two main waterways that separate Iraq from Kuwait and Iran.

Commanders had feared that Iraqi troops might sabotage the peninsula's oil terminals, creating oil spills or fires that could hinder their attack and cause an environmental disaster.

Under the cover initially of C-130 attack planes and later fast attack jets, the marines fought several firefights with Iraqi troops through the night.

"Bravo company have engaged the enemy. The enemy appear to be running away," came one announcement over Ark Royal's public address system a few hours into the battle. It was greeted by loud cheers from the ship's crew.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq