Iraqi port troops come home

British soldiers decorated schools with toys before leaving Umm Qasr

Troops who have been guarding a key Iraqi port were finally reunited with their loved ones after facing a longer wait than expected.

Some 100 soldiers from 2/3 Pioneer Regiment were due to fly in to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Monday morning.

But delays in their journey from the Middle East meant they did not arrive at the base until Monday afternoon, before finally greeting their families at their barracks in Bicester at about 1800 BST.

The troops helped run the port town of Umm Qasr until it was handed to new civilian authorities last week.

They were among the first British forces to arrive in Kuwait, before moving into southern Iraq when the war started.

Their duties ranged from co-ordinating the arrival of other forces, to setting-up humanitarian aid distribution points.

The soldiers, including commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Peter Jones, were reunited with their families at St David's barracks.

Residents of Umm Qasr are to elect members for their first post-Saddam council on Thursday.

Colonel Jones handed power to a temporary council of 12 local people in a ceremony last week, making the town the first to get a civilian government since the war ended.

Umm Qasr, which has a population of 45,000, was the first Iraqi town to be captured by coalition forces.