BRITISH Forces beat a tactical retreat from Basra yesterday as they abandoned hopes of taking swift control of Iraq’s second city.

A British soldier was killed near al-Zubayr, south of the city, as units of the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, came under sustained mortar fire and unexpected resistance in areas outside the allied containment ring.

Elements of the brigade, including the Challenger 2 tanks of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, pulled away from the city early in the morning. Some of the strongest resistance came from the Fedayin militia and security services armed with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.

Captain Patrick Trueman of the Guards said: “We’re currently taking stock of the situation. We were expecting a lot of hands up from Iraqi soldiers and for the humanitarian operation in Basra to begin fairly quickly behind us, with aid organisations providing food and water to the locals. But it hasn’t quite worked out that way. There are significant elements in Basra who are hugely loyal to the regime.”

The soldier died yesterday after being shot on Sunday night as he tried to calm rioting Iraqi civilians. It was reported that the shooting occurred during a “civil disturbance in the Basra area”, but the Ministry of Defence refused to give further details. Next of kin were informed. It brought the British death toll to 17.

The partial retreat from Basra underlined fears that British troops could be dragged into prolonged and bloody urban warfare. Tony Blair and Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, made the best of the difficulties there. Mr Blair said that Basra had been surrounded and the airport made secure. He said it could not be used as an Iraqi base. But he added there were “pockets of Saddam’s most fiercely loyal security services” who were holding out. “They are contained but still able to inflict casualties on our troops and so we are proceeding with caution.”

Mr Hoon said that the towns and cities in the south did not have military and strategic significance. They would be “liberated” eventually, but it was best to be patient, he said.

Basra has been besieged since the weekend, but there was no sign that the Iraqi defence was about to crumble quickly. Nor did it appear that the civilian population was ready to welcome the troops with open arms.

Coalition commanders had hoped that Basra would be a relatively easy prize for British troops. They had talked of the possibility of a negotiated surrender, and apparently believed that the city would then become a showcase for the liberation of Iraq.

After the withdrawal of the Desert Rats, British artillery shells were fired into the city, where 1,000 Iraqi fighters are believed to be sheltering, some in civilian buildings. There were fears that a strong Iraqi armoured division could be ready to push from inside Basra to try to retake the airport. British officers now believe that there may be a large number of T55 tanks in Basra.

Last night there were suggestions that Royal Marines and paratroopers might be called in. Both forces specialise in urban warfare and peacekeeping and are far better suited to street combat than the Challenger 2 tanks and Warrior armoured personnel carriers of the Desert Rats. “It looks like being a lot tougher than we thought,” one officer said.

Two other British soldiers were reported missing near Basra yesterday after Iraqi troops ambushed a convoy, and were feared to have been captured. Officials in Baghdad claimed that they were now holding both British and US prisoners of war. The soldiers’ Land Rover was ambushed by fighters using a rocket- propelled grenade.

Basra is a largely Shia city that has endured decades of Baathist terror, and was where the Iraqi people first rose up against Saddam in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War.

Its inhabitants have suffered more than most Iraqis under the 12 years of United Nations sanctions and it is also a place that remains scarred, not only by the fighting during which the uprising was ruthlessly suppressed, but by the eight years of war with Iran.

Most of the troops defending the city yesterday were not only Shia, but were thought to be drawn largely from the regular Iraqi Army’s 51st Mechanised Division, rather than the Republican Guard or Fedayin.

Iraqi commanders are trying to draw coalition forces into Basra in the hope that their American and British counterparts will be reluctant to call in the airstrikes and artillery bombardents which would doubtless bring victory, but which could also bring large numbers of civilian casualties.

British troops on the outskirts of Basra told reporters that they had been given warning to avoid inflicting any civilian casualties. On a bridge between the city and the airport, troops of a battle group composed of members of the Royal Fusiliers and the Queen’s Royal Lancers said that they had received orders not to fire on civilian areas without a clear view of the military target.

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