What had been a relatively quiet city for hours became a scene of chaos as dozens of explosions rocked Basra. From all over the city, fighter jets could be heard, followed shortly by a barrage of explosions in the industrial area, which threw plumes of acrid black smoke into the air.

The sound of machine-gun fire exploded just 50 meters from a heavily traveled thoroughfare. With the increase of explosions and renewed killing, people who had been allowed to enter Basra while there was a lull in the fighting turned around and headed back out of the city again. However, they were stopped by British tanks, and found themselves caught in no-man’s land.

An attempt by this reporter to escape the fighting inside the city in a clearly marked press vehicle was halted by a British tank, which turned its turret across the road.

Four kilometers into Basra, at the first main intersection, uniformed Iraqi police officers carrying AK47s could be seen directing traffic, indicating that the Iraqi authorities are still very much in control.

As two sports utility vehicles carrying seven journalists from various Italian media organizations attempted a U-turn to escape the city as the battles began, Iraqi police officers pointed their AK47s at them and ordered them out of the vehicle.

They were taken into custody and have not been heard from or returned to camp.

Parts of Basra considered safe, such as the British forces manned checkpoint at the main bridge leading to the city, were suddenly fired on and shelled by Iraqi soldiers.

Unlike Umm Qasr, residents of Basra still have electricity and water. Before the intense fighting began, this correspondent saw a gas station with dozens of cars lining up to refuel. Basra appeared to be a normal place. People were out walking, and some businesses were open. Children, too, were playing in the street, some kicking a ball about. In the surrounding farming communities, a young boy could be seen attending to his crops.

Witnesses who were finally allowed out of Basra on foot after the fighting began told Arab News that families were getting slaughtered in the crossfire between Iraqi soldiers and US/UK forces fighting for control of the civilian neighborhoods in central Basra. Some neighborhoods would exchange hands as Iraqi and coalition ground forces fought each other, one resident told Arab News.

The father of three Iraqi soldiers walked his sons through a British-manned checkpoint and told them to surrender themselves.

When asked by Arab News why he did this, he said: “This battle is growing more and more hopeless every hour. The Iraqi soldiers are dispirited and running out of ammunition. They are no match for the Americans, and they will be killed. I don’t want that. I would rather that they stayed alive as prisoners of war.”

Arab News asked the three surrendering soldiers — aged 17, 23 and 26 — whether they had actively fought the Americans in Basra.

Their reply was “No, no, no.”

“We are deserting the army,” one of them explained. “We are surrendering to the British because we do not want to fight anymore. We want the protection of the coalition forces as we will surely be hanged by the Iraqi Army for refusing to fight.”

On the way out of the city, as Arab News passed an Iraqi, he asked this correspondent whether I spoke Arabic. He became furious, despite the fact I lied by saying that I did not.