Battle of Majar al-Kabir
The Battle of Majar al-Kabir was the result of growing distrust between the British military and local inhabitants of south-eastern of Iraq over house searches and confiscation of personal weapons that locals felt were crucial for their self-protection. Despite a signed agreement between local people and British forces stating that the British would not enter the town, the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment started patrolling in the town of Majar al-Kabir on 24 June 2003 the day after the agreement was signed. The British thought the agreement was to stop the weapons searches that involved going into the houses of local inhabitants.
At first, angry locals stoned the Paras, encouraged by anti-British rhetoric broadcast from the town's minarets. The Paras used rubber bullets to try to control the situation; this led to street battles, rifle fire and the cornering of six Royal Military Policemen (RMP) in the police station at Majar al-Kabir. There were conflicting reports about who had fired the first live shots. The six RMP were killed by an angry mob of up to 600 people while maintaining a defensive position within the police station. Four Iraqi civilians were killed and at least eleven more were injured during the riot. Eight British troops were injured, although only one casualty was the result of a firefight in the town.
A Quick Reaction Force (QRF) was deployed from Camp Abu Naji and air support came in the form of one Gazelle and one Chinook helicopter. The Chinook incurred enough airframe damage from Iraqi gunfire that it could not land its QRF element in the town and had to return to Abu Naji where it offloaded seriously injured troops.
The death of the six RMP was one of the most controversial occurrences of the Iraq Campaign involving British forces and remains a topic of debate in political and military circles.[1]