Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Sammy Wilson
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British service personnel have been (a) injured and (b) killed by friendly fire in Iraq since 2003.

Mr. Hutton
Records show that eight members of the UK armed forces have been killed as a result of friendly fire incidents in Iraq since 2003, although it is not always possible in each and every case precisely to determine the cause of death. Details of the number of UK military personnel injured by friendly fire incidents are not recorded centrally.

Nick Harvey
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what equipment he plans to gift to Iraq once Operation Archive is under way.

Mr. Hutton
As the Prime Minister said in his statement to the House on 18 December, we plan to reduce force levels in Iraq as we complete our remaining key tasks in Basra in the early months of next year. Planning for the withdrawal of UK forces continues and any proposal to gift equipment to Iraq would follow established procedures.

Ann Winterton
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK armed forces bases have been established in Southern Iraq in each year since 2003; what the (a) location and (b) names of each is; and on which date each was vacated.

Mr. Hutton
The UK armed forces bases established and subsequently vacated in Iraq since 2003 are as follows:

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|Base name                       |Year established|Location   |Date of vacation             |
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|Camp Chindit                    |2003            |Az Zubayr  |29 September 2005            |
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|Camp Smitty                     |2004            |As Samawaha|30 July 2006                 |
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|Camp Abu Naji                   |2003            |Maysan     |30 August 2006               |
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|Old State Building (Al-Saie)    |2003            |Basrah     |20 March 2007                |
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|Shaat Al’Arab Hotel             |2003            |Basrah     |8 April 2007                 |
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|Shaibah Logistics Base          |2003            |Basrah     |24 April 2007                |
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|Basra Palace                    |2003            |Basrah     |5 September 2007             |
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|Contingency Operating Base (COB)|2003            |Basrah     |UK forces remain in residence|
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This table does not include details of occasions when UK forces have operated from bases run by other coalition partners. It also does not include details of small temporary operating bases.

Ann Winterton
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many attacks of each type have been launched against UK armed forces bases in southern Iraq since 1 May 2003.

Mr. Hutton
The following table contains details of all reported attacks against multi-national force bases in MND(SE) since the period requested. To distinguish between attacks against UK bases and those of other coalition partners would incur disproportionate costs.

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|                                             |Total number of reported attacks1|
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|2003                                         |39                               |
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|2004                                         |732                              |
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|2005                                         |111                              |
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|2006                                         |820                              |
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|2007                                         |1,374                            |
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|2008                                         |108                              |
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|1 The data cut-off point is 18 December 2008.|                                 |
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