Iraqi paramilitary forces in Basra fired machine guns and mortars on about 2,000 civilians trying to flee the battle zone and a looming humanitarian crisis in Iraq's second-largest city, a British military official said Friday.

CTV.ca News Staff

Iraqi paramilitary forces in Basra fired machine guns and mortars on about 2,000 civilians trying to flee the battle zone and a looming humanitarian crisis in Iraq's second-largest city, a British military official said Friday.

Lt.-Col. Ronnie McCourt, a British forces spokesman, said a "couple of thousand" Iraqi civilians had tried to escape from the north and the west of the besieged city, but came under fire from Iraqi paramilitary forces inside.

Members of Britain's 7th Armoured Brigade attempted to neutralize the fire and evacuate the civilians but some were forced to turn back, he said.

In a separate incident, Iraqi forces fired mortars on about 1,000 civilians waiting to cross a bridge on the main road out of Basra to the south, according to reports.

A British soldier told Reuters no one was killed on or near the bridge, but one Iraqi woman was seriously wounded and several other civilians were injured.

"It would seem there are several small groups of Iraqi militia using mortar plates on the back of small, mobile vehicles. They landed around eight or nine mortars near the group (of civilians)," he told Reuters.

British troops placed themselves between some of the fleeing civilians and the attacking Iraqi paramilitaries in an attempt to intervene, according to reports.

"The paramilitaries are attempting to keep people in the bounds of Basra," British military spokesman Al Lockwood told Reuters. "There is a great deal of coercion particularly among the young male population by the Baath party and these paramilitaries to make them fight for the regime."

"Once we have isolated these forces, located them, we will strike, we will take them out and return Basra to the people."

British forces have ringed the southern Basra in hopes of eliminating units still loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and getting in badly needed humanitarian aid.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if aid doesn't reach the city's 1.3 million people.

Britain's Army Chief Gen. Michael Jackson said Friday gaining control of Basra had taken longer than expected, but that Iraqi forces there were trapped.

"The Iraqi forces in the south are fixed, by that we mean they are pinned down -- their ability to manoeuvre is very limited indeed," Jackson said.

He denied suggestions at a London press conference that the Iraq campaign had become "bogged down."

"Armies cannot keep moving forever without stopping from time to time to regroup, to ensure their supplies are up," Jackson said.

"This 'bogged down' is a tendentious phrase. It's a pause while people get sorted out for what comes next," Jackson added.

With a report from the Associated Press