Marines capture 170 Iraqi soldiers in N assiriya, says US

ARMS SEIZURES:  US marines seized more than 200 weapons, stockpiles of ammunition and over 3,000 chemical suits with masks at…

ARMS SEIZURES: US marines seized more than 200 weapons, stockpiles of ammunition and over 3,000 chemical suits with masks at an Iraqi hospital which was being used as a "military staging area".

Central Command in Qatar said in a statement that marines operating in the southern city of Nassiriya - the scene of some of the fiercest fighting so far in the war - captured about 170 Iraqi soldiers at the hospital. They were not armed. There was no means of independently confirming the statement.

Central Command said forces of the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines had been fired at from the building on Monday although it was marked as a hospital by a flag with a red crescent.

"Prior to going in, the marines used loudspeakers outside of the hospital to encourage the doctors and patients . . . to evacuate," the statement said. "No civilians were in the hospital at the time it was seized."

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A T-55 tank was found in the compound and those inside "were not armed and were wearing a mixture of mostly civilian clothing with parts of military uniforms".

The statement said it was believed the soldiers captured were being bussed into the city and were drawing weapons from the hospital to fight in the city.

"Misuse of a protected symbol, such as a Red Cross emblem or the equivalent red crescent, is a violation of the Geneva Convention and may subject persons to prosecution as war criminals," it added.

The report looked likely to bolster US claims that Iraq has chemical weapons, and comes amid heavy criticism from Washington of Iraqi troops' "despicable" violation of the rules of war for using tactics such as fighting in civilian clothes.

Meanwhile, reports from the field suggested that at least two columns of marines were converging on the city of Kut last night, about 150 km south-east of Baghdad to take on another Republican Guard division,

One formation of marines ran into Iraqi fire, prompting a call for a helicopter gunship attack that left 20 to 25 Iraqis dead, correspondents travelling with them said.

The incident occurred at Ash-Shatra, about 40 km north of Nassiriya, the Euphrates River crossing which has been the scene of intensive fighting since the weekend.