Looters Ransack Base After British Troops Leave
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer Amarah, Iraq (AHN)-A day after the camp was turned over to Iraqi troops, looters ravaged a former British base Friday, taking everything from doors and window frames to corrugated roofing and metal pipes. About 1,200 British troops had been stationed at Camp Abu Naji in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, but the troops pulled out Thursday to redeploy along the border with Iran to crack down on weapons smuggling. Dhaffar Jabbar, spokesman for the Maysan provincial governor's office said Iraqi police managed to disperse looters by firing warning shots into the air shortly after the troops pulled out, but the looters returned Friday, telling the AP, "There are only few soldiers at Abu Naji camp. Some of the residents were carrying weapons so they (the soldiers) did not want bloodshed and with such a big number, they cannot stop them." Men, some with their faces covered, ripped corrugated metal from roofs, carried off metal pipes and backed trucks into building entrances to load them with wooden planks. When asked by a reporter why he was taking material from the base, one man, who refused to give his name, said, "This is war loot and we are allowed to take it." On Thursday, Iraqi authorities had complained that the British withdrawal had caught them by surprise, with Jabbar saying, "British forces evacuated the military headquarters without coordination with the Iraq |
