Burridge commends 'bloody brilliant' British troops

Air Marshal Brian Burridge, the senior Commander of the UK invading forces ran into potential diplomatic embarrassment yesterday after congratulating British troops on their "bloody brilliant" taking of Basra earlier in the week.

Commending British troops from the 7th Armoured Brigade and the Royal Marines for their seizure of Iraq's second city after a two-week siege, Air Marshal Burridge declared to reporters on a visit to the city that after British troops moved in "your colleagues from the British media were puffing their chest out and looking at their American colleagues with a rather supercilious grin on their collective faces".

When asked whether he was implying a criticism of the Americans for not taking Baghdad as rapidly as the British had taken Basra, reporters said he looked embarrassed and sought to shrug the suggestion off.

In fact Air Marshal Burridge had twice lavishly praised the rapid advance on Baghdad by the US 3rd Infantry and the 1st US Marine Expeditionary Force before yesterday's advance. He told British officers and, subsequently, reporters at US Central Command that it had been a textbook example of modern warfare which would be studied in staff colleges "for years to come".

Air Marshal Burridge has also been careful to make it clear on previous occasions that the problems of Basra, where Iraqi resistance although fierce, did not involve forces as numerous or well equipped as those in Baghdad, were different from those in the Iraqi capital.

Nevertheless his passing remarks will baffle most reporters at US Central Command who will find it difficult to recognise either his picture of their "supercilious" reaction to the sweep into Basra – successful and at relatively low cost in casualties as it was – or the chauvinistic relationship between British and US media that he implies. Three British soldiers were killed in the fighting for the city.

They may also fuel a debate which has simmered several times in London since the war began about differences between British and US approaches to the conflict. The shooting at US checkpoints of civilians aftera suspected suicide bomb killed four US soldiers near Najaf prompted a considerable discussion over whether British, with long experience of guerrilla tactics in Northern Ireland, were more used to handling the difficult task of distinguishing between civilians and paramilitary forces. In fact British officers – including Air Marshal Burridge – have consistently said they were very sympathetic to US forces over the incidents because of the coercion of civilians by paramilitaries.

A more marked – and largely non-military source – of difference has been over the eventual fate of paramilitary prisoners, including those called "terroristic" by US commanders. British officers have stressed the need for them to be brought to trial rather than detained without trial.

During his visit to Basra yesterday, Air Marshal Burridge refused to rule out British troops' involvement in any more fighting in Iraq. There was still more combat ahead for in the north of the country, he implied.

But signalling that the end of the war was probably very near for British forces, he said: "As far as our military operations are concerned, we have reached an end stage."

Death toll

Combatants

American

Killed in combat: 81

Non-combat deaths: 15

Missing: 10

Captured: 7

British

Killed in combat: 9

Non-combat deaths: 22

Iraqi

Killed in combat:

More than 3,650 (2,320 killed in Baghdad alone, according to US military estimates).

Missing: no accurate figures

Other

Killed: More than 75 Kurds

Civilians

British

Killed: 1

Iraqi

Killed: At least 1,250, according to Iraqi estimates on 3 April

Other

Killed: 18 (Canadian Red Cross worker found dead yesterday; a Ukrainian cameraman, Taras Protsyuk (pictured), a Spanish cameraman and a Jordanian reporter killed in Baghdad on Tuesday; a teenager killed by a stray rocket in Iran on Tuesday; a Spanish journalist and a German journalist, both killed on Monday; a French TV journalist; an Australian cameraman; a Jordanian taxi driver; an Iranian cameraman and a Kurdish translator working for the BBC; five Syrian bus passengers; a US journalist.)

Missing: 8