THE thwacking of rotor blades cutting the desert air is a noise some Iraqis are learning to fear.

In the days of Saddam's regime, the sound often heralded purges; those who lived in the wilderness south of Basra paid dearly for the uprising in the wake of the first Gulf War.

Their water and power supply cut, they were forced to head east into Iran or north to the outskirts of the city, where they eked out an existence in the slums.

But, even there, they were hounded by Saddam's soldiers. Their ramshackle homes were shelled, while some were simply shot as criminals.

Today, the shadow of a helicopter flitting across the desert sand is something feared by bandits.

Kidnappers, hijackers, smugglers, gun-runners and looters all know that the searing heat and the terrain are their friends and, if they were confined to vehicle patrols, the vastness of the desert would limit how effective troops could be in their efforts to control crime.

However, Royal Navy helicopters and air crew used to working with Royal Marine Commandos have joined soldiers from North Yorkshire on so-called Eagle Patrols, scouring the desert from the air and swooping on suspicious activity, or setting up random checkpoints in the middle of the wilderness.

On Thursday, a patrol found a roadblock set up by Iraqis on a desert road leading to the Al Faw peninsula.

Hijackers sometimes use them, stopping fuel tankers and murdering their drivers, while kidnappers will stop cars and try to hold their owners to ransom.

But, this time, the men responsible said their motive was protest. They wanted fuel, a regular power supply and a generator for their desert village, none of which the soldiers from 40 Regiment, Royal Artillery, could supply.

The commander of 38 Battery, Major Johnathon Parrott, said: "We will be sending a vehicle patrol back either later today or tomorrow to see if we can reassure these people.

"Really, what they need to do is speak to the local area council. We are trying to educate the Iraqis to understand it is up to them to do something for themselves.

"Of course we will help where we can, but the onus is on them to develop their own chain of command. We do not want to create a culture of dependency."