EYEWITNESS: British forces patrolling in the southern Iraqi desert have uncovered the first evidence that Saddam Hussein may have been planning a chemical or biological attack on allied forces.
Local Iraqi militiamen were stopped by a reconnaissance unit belonging to the 7th armoured division and found to be in possession of 30 NBC (nuclear, biological or chemical) suits.
They appear to have been stored in a nearby military complex that the militia had raided earlier in the day, and suggest Iraqi forces had been prepared for "the worse case scenario" of chemical warfare.
Yesterday a series of NBC alerts were sounded in the areas around Basra as fears rose of a concerted Iraqi fightback in areas south of the city.
British forces have spent the past 48 hours securing the territory so far captured by setting up a series of road blocks.
On a stormy day yesterday there was, however, little movement on the roads.
For most of the early hours of the morning, British artillery had supported a mission by unmanned Phoenix reconnaissance drones around the town of al-Dayr, where the Iraqi 6th armoured division is stationed to protect the eastern road to Baghdad.
The night sky was lit up by a series of massive explosions.
"Just softening them up for when we get there," said one British officer.
British officers have described the next 24 hours as critical in breaking Iraqi resistance in southern areas already partially secured in order to recommence the push to surround Basra.
Basra itself was last night subject to another artillery bombardment on outlying areas amid reports that the city has been without clean water and electricity for several days.
"Conditions are hellish in there," said one man who had managed to evade Iraqi military forces keen to keep civilians inside the city in act as a "last line of defence".
"We've got to have some water. That is why I have left to try and secure supplies for my family. I plan to return," he said.
He was one of the few men to be stopped and searched at check-points yesterday. Otherwise the day has been spent by British forces securing and blowing up munitions from the hundreds of arms dumps still uncovered by the local militia.
A series of huge mushroom clouds covered the evening horizon as the controlled detonations took place. The militia themselves appear to have become wary of engaging with British forces.
One exchange was typical of the several encounters that took place yesterday.
A squadron from the 1st Regiment Royal Fusiliers approached a suspicious group of men standing beside two parked vans.
"What are you doing here?" asked Capt Dan Duff, an officer with the regiment.
"What are you doing here?" came an incredulous reply before British soldiers fired over their heads. They promptly surrendered, revealed several AK-47 rifles and two boot-loads of artillery rounds.
"God knows what they were planning to do with it," said Capt Duff.
"We can't have the population arming itself with the sort of weaponry that is being left behind by the Iraqi army."