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| Iraq |
| Suicide bomber who surrendered |
| 2003-04-06 |
| As he got closer to the troops they warily fixed their gun barrels on the shuffling figure in front of them. Holding his hands in the air he shouted out in English: "Please, please. Surrender, surrender." As I watched the man, in his 60s and dressed in flowing robes and head dress, he looked like just another frightened Iraqi trying to give himself up to the British. Then he dropped six grenades on the floor. All hell broke loose as I, and dozens of others in the area, dived for cover. "Yo! Fisk! Loan us a couple of those loo rolls!" For a few seconds it was still - the grenades hadn't gone off, the pins remained intact. All that could be heard were the gentle moanings of the Iraqi man, repeating the words "Surrender, surrender." Uhhh... Okay. British sentries on the roof of a nearby building shouted at him to get on his knees. As he lay on the ground members of 40 Commando ran over and seized him, stripping off his clothes and checking for more weapons. He was then arrested and led away for questioning. Naked as an egg. Prob'ly a war crime in there someplace... Later the fisherman's tragic story emerged. He told Marine commanders how he had been forced at gunpoint by Fedayeen militia to stage a suicide attack against their base. Living alone, and with no family, they had deemed him a perfect choice to carry out their attack. "The [Fedayeen] special operations team said I had three choices, they kill me, the British kill me, or I kill myself," the man, who wished only to be identified as Abdullah, said. Just a resource, available for disposal by the tough guys... Last night members of 40 Commando were understood to be carrying out an operation in the city to pinpoint the militia responsible. The unit's commanding officer, Colonel Gordon Messenger, said "We now have good intelligence on the group behind this attempted attack. "We also believe they are the men who attacked our base three days ago. They are hiding locally, and we hope to track them down very shortly." "An arrest is expected momentarily." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |