Soldiers save baby in bullet box

Privates Hunt, left, and Kenny with little Rose after resuscitating her

Two young British soldiers have saved the life of an abandoned newborn Iraqi girl after finding her in an ammunition dump.

Private Damien Kenny and Private Jonathan Hunt were searching a house in Basra in the south of the country after rounding up five terror suspects when they made their amazing discovery.

There, in a dusty 3ft-long padlocked metal box and nestling among rocket-propelled grenade launchers, AK47s and ammunition, was little Rose.

Tightly swaddled and barely two days old, she was no longer breathing.

Putting down their own weapons, the squaddies began giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

A few minutes later they were rewarded for their quick thinking when Rose - named by the soldiers after the red rose of their Lancashire regiment - squeezed Private Kenny's finger.

We couldn't believe it when we saw it was a baby girl and we had to try something Private Damien Kenny

"We were expecting to find weapons hidden in the box," said Private Kenny, 18, from Wigan.

"We couldn't believe it when we saw it was a baby girl, and we had to try something."

Their commanding officer Major Paul Davies praised his men's speedy intervention.

"It is a testament to the professionalism and adaptability of my men that they dealt with this situation so effectively. I hope this young girl will have a happier future."

Happily, the Army was able to track her down and mother and daughter have been reunited in hospital.

Lieutenant Craig Rogers, who is in charge of the unit which found Rose, told LBC radio that the baby's father had been arrested.

He said: "The mother has actually said that it was the father who put the young child inside the ammunition box. He has been arrested by ourselves."

The soldiers believe the girl may have been in the box for at least 10 minutes.

"The pair immediately initiated first aid and were rewarded for their efforts when the baby began breathing and grasped Private Kenny's finger," said a spokesman at the British command centre in Basra.

Baby Rose was reunited with her mother in hospital

"It is unclear why the child had been placed in the locked container, although it has been established that the baby had been born prematurely," the spokesman added.

Four soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Queen's Lancashire Regiment had chased armed Iraqi men into the house in the Al Jubaylah area of Basra early on Sunday following reports of looting at a local water treatment plant.

They were arrested and the baby was found - along a large white bag containing one million Iraqi Dinars - in the subsequent routine search of the house.