| TWENTY Polish soldiers who had been surrounded by several hundred Shiite militia at their post at Hilla, south of Baghdad, were evacuated today, a spokesman for the multinational division said. "Under the protection of the rapid reaction force, the unit of Polish soldiers returned to their base at 7.20am," Polish Colonel Artur Domanski told the Polish news agency PAP. He said the operation went off without any exchange of fire or casualties. Yesterday afternoon the 20 soldiers as well as several dozen Iraqi police found themselves surrounded by several hundred rebel fighters loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr at the police post in Hilla, about 5km from their main base at Babylon. According to Colonel Domanski, the situation in Hilla today was calm and the town was under the control of Iraqi forces. But according to police and Iraqi hospital sources, the rebel militia managed to seize two police posts in the town during the night in fighting which left eight dead and 33 injured. |