The world should be so lucky.Meanwhile it was back to the fighting and news was mixed. There were further “friendly fire” incidents; a US F-16 fighter jet had shot at a Patriot missile defence battery near Najaf that had locked on to it and the deaths of two British soldiers were confirmed after their tank was hit by the US during fighting near Basra.The British also confirmed early stages of an uprising in Basra. “This is just the sort of encouraging indication we have been looking for,” said Major-General Peter Wall, British Chief of Staff at Allied Central Command in Qatar. Meanwhile, 1,400 air sorties against the Republican Guard were scheduled The bombing would continue. And so would the storms.Invasion of Iraq – day six* TUESDAY 7.40am GMT: A soldier from 1st Bn, Black Watch, has died in action near Zubayr, southern Iraq.10.10am: Brigadier Jim Dutton, above, the Royal Marines commander, says Umm Qasr is now “safe and open”; hopes the first aid ship will arrive in 48 hours.10.50: Iraqi Information Minister says Iraqi forces killed “scores of invaders” in marshes near Nasiriyah.12.15pm: Tony Blair says “huge amount” achieved but it will take perseverance and time to quell resistance. “This time” the West will not let the Iraqi people down, he says.1.51: The US Fifth Fleet in the Gulf raises its alert level amid fears of suicide speedboat attacks.5.18: UK military says uprising has begun in Basra. A British journalist says there are reports of Iraqi soldiers firing mortars at civilians protesting against Saddam Hussein’s regime.9.21: Two British tank soldiers confirmed dead near Basra after being hit by another UK tank crew..

Two British soldiers were killed and two were injured yesterday in the latest “friendly fire” incident to blight the campaign in Iraq The soldiers’ tank was destroyed during fighting near Basra. The soldiers’ tank was destroyed during fighting near Basra.
The two dead soldiers were named last night as Corporal Stephen John Allbutt from Stoke-on-Trent and Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke from Staffordshire.The incident took place while British armour and infantry were battling against militiamen and irregular forces leading a guerrilla-style campaign in and around Iraq’s second city. The four-man Challenger II tank was fired on by another British tank during the battle in the darkness.The families of the dead men, from the Queen’s Royal Lancers Regiment, have been told of the deaths. An inquiry is under way and will centre on why the tank’s new identification technology failed to prevent the attack.Colonel Chris Vernon, British Army Field headquarters spokesman, said last night: “Despite careful planning, excellent training, top-class night vision equipment and sophisticated combat ID measures, these events happen in the fog of war and the heat of battle.”The risk of Allied forces inflicting casualties on their own side was further underlined by reports an US F-16 jet had fired on an Allied Patriot missile battery inside Iraq which had locked on to the aircraft.Therewere no casualties in the incident on Monday, which led to the fighter firing an anti-radiation missile to destroy the Patriot’s radar..

The people of Baghdad are digging in as American and British forces engaged Republican Guards south of the Iraqi capital. The city’s residents have started carving bigger defensive trenches, including in the courtyard of the antiquities museum. But later this morning it resumed broadcasting.American infantry troops fought off a desert offensive by Iraqi forces 100 miles south of Baghdad, inflicting heavy casualties in the biggest ground clash of the war yet. US officials said that between 150 and 500 Iraqis were killed in the battle during howling sandstorms near the holy city of Najaf There were no immediate reports of American casualties.

The American convoy had adopted defensive positions during the storms when Iraqis – either Republican Guard or paramilitary Iraqi troops traveling on foot – opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades. Some of the 7th Cavalry’s equipment was damaged in the attack, the officials said. As the distant explosions around Baghdad grew more frequent, security and police officers fanned out across the city. Residents said members of Saddam Hussein’s feared intelligence agencies were also posted on the streets.President Saddam, meanwhile, sent a message to Iraq’s tribal and clan chiefs asking them to step up the fight against the Allied forces. “Fight them in pockets and when their columns move, hit their front and rear,” he told them, according to state television.