London, Mar 24: Warning that the US-led coalition faces 'difficult days ahead' in its war against Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair today said three helicopters and a Royal Air Force Tornado have been lost in accidents and two British soldiers are missing in Iraq. "UK forces have suffered their combat loss - a soldier killed in fighting near al-Zubayr, to the south of Basra," the Prime Minister told the House of Commons in his first statement since the war began. Asserting that the war is going according to plan, Blair said that coalition forces had reached about 100 km south of Baghdad, near Karbala. "It is a little way from there that they will encounter the Medina division of the Republican Guard who are defending the route to Baghdad. This will be a crucial moment," he told the MPs.
There were still "pockets of resistance" in Basra, he said, especially from the security services fiercely loyal to Saddam Hussein.

"There are bound to be difficult days ahead, but the strategy and its timing are proceeding according to plan," he said, adding victory for the US-led forces is "certain".

The Prime Minister voiced the "heartfelt gratitude" of MPs to those troops who had been killed in the first four days of the campaign.

"They had the courage to take the ultimate risk in the service of their country," Blair said.

Answering a question on the RAF Tornado shot down by the American Patriot missile, Blair said "we are looking urgently at what lessons we can learn from this accident."

Bureau Report