15.1 | Civilian
personnel
499.
The move from
Kirkuk to a temporary site at the Khanzad Hotel in Erbil had
been
precipitated
by the US decision to relinquish the site in Kirkuk on which the
British
Embassy
Office had been located. One benefit for UK staff would be the
better security
environment
in Erbil.
500.
On 22 April,
the Chief Overseas Security Manager (COSM) at the British
Embassy
Baghdad
reported the first IDF attack in many months in which rounds had
impacted
inside the
Embassy compound.331
Basic
procedures in the Embassy had worked well:
“The
incident was well controlled by the Embassy Operations Room,
staffed by CRG
… The Garda
World Gurkha Guard Force were excellent in their cordon and
search
operation.
All wardens should also be congratulated on the speedy manner in
which
they
conducted the head count. I was therefore able to give the FCO
Response
Centre in
London an accurate report that all were safe and well within 15
minutes
of the
first impact.”
501.
The COSM
concluded with a number of lessons to be learned locally,
including
the need
for an urgent review of the provision of “Duck and Cover” shelters
and for staff
to be
patient while searches were carried out.
502.
The British
Embassy Office site on the Basra Palace site was handed over
to
the UK
military on 26 April.332
Mr Robert
Tinline, Deputy Consul General in Basra and
Mr Etherington’s
successor as Head of the Basra PRT, reported that over 1,200
rockets
and mortars
had been fired at the Basra Palace site since attacks had increased
in
September
2006 and that the site had been hit 70 times:
“We were
fortunate that none of our staff were killed or injured. (Others in
other parts
of the
compound fared less well.) But we also made our own good fortune.
Four
accommodation
‘pods’, the bar, the gym and both the main office buildings
received
direct hits
– but because they were hardened, no serious injuries resulted. Six
of the
reinforced
windows were hit by shrapnel – none gave way. Mortars landed one
side
of ‘Hesco’
sandbag walls, leaving people the other side
unharmed.”
503.
Mr Tinline
explained that the whole Basra Palace site was scheduled to be
handed
back to the
Iraqis in late summer. The Iraqi authorities were expected to
assume full
security
responsibility for Basra province at about the same
time.
504.
On 21 May,
Mr Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, requested additional
funds
from the
Treasury for hardened accommodation to protect troops at the COB;
April had
seen a
threefold increase in the number of IED attacks (see Section
14.1).333
331
Email FCO
[junior official] to All Staff [British Embassy Baghdad], 22 April
2007, ‘IDF Attack 21st
April
2007 –
Follow Up Actions’.
332
eGram
17758/07 Basra to FCO London, 30 April 2007, ‘Basra: Move of the
British Embassy Office’.
333
Letter
Browne to Timms, 21 May 2007, ‘Urgent Operational Requirement:
Hardened Accommodation
in Iraq’.
333