UP to twelve Britons were killed when a helicopter crashed in Kuwait early this morning.

They are believed to have died along with four Americans.

The US Marine CH46 helicopter crashed in the Kuwaiti desert, nine miles south of the border. Initial reports suggested a mechanical failure.

All on board were lost.

The CH46, which is similar to the British Chinook helicopter, operates with three to four crew members and can carry up to 24 fully-equipped marines.

It is the third helicopter downed since the conflict began, with two previous incidents involving helicopters "hard landing" - a euphemism for helicopters crashing but remaining upright.

No lives were lost in the previous incidents, although the wreckage was destroyed by coalition forces to prevent enemies accessing high-tech equipment on board.

The CH46, which was first used in the Vietnam war and in every conflict since, is to be replaced soon.

Usually based on ships, it is thought the helicopter could have been transporting troops from one location to another as part of the push on Basra.

Royal Marines stormed into Iraq earlier last night as allied forces launched a massive onslaught on Saddam Hussein by land, sea and air.

Baghdad was hit by a huge aerial bombardment as coalition troops crossed the border from Kuwait into Iraq.

There was speculation early this morning that a MOAB "super-bomb" may have been dropped on Basra. The news came after Reuters correspondents reported seeing a huge fireball from their position, 30 miles from the southern Iraqi city.

Journalists also said they saw up to 30 fireballs in the area, suggesting a severe and very heavy bombing mission, perhaps against Iraqi Republican Guards.

Earlier, Tony Blair appealed to the nation in a televised broadcast to rally behind British forces as they went into action.

"Tonight, British servicemen and women are engaged from air, land and sea. Their mission: to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction," the Prime Minister said.

"As so often before, on the courage and determination of British men and women, serving our country, the fate of many nations rests."

Thousands of Royal Marines from 3 Commando Brigade mounted a lightning amphibious assault at the head of the Persian Gulf where the strategically important Al Faw peninsula meets the Shatt-al-Arab waterway and the Iranian border.

In a pooled report, David Sharrock, of The Times, said that marines from 40 and 42 Commandos swept into the peninsula while 539 Assault Squadron made beach landings and cleared Iraqi mines on land and at sea.

The commando attack was foreshadowed by an intense artillery bombardment by four batteries of light and heavy guns across the Khawr Abd Allah, the six-kilometre-wide estuary separating Kuwait's Bubiyan Island from Iraq.

There was also support from naval gunfire in the Persian Gulf.

Preparations for the attack included the infiltration earlier in the day into the peninsula by Royal Marine snipers, Brigade Reconnaissance Force and US Navy Seal teams who harassed Iraqi positions prior to and during the land and sea assault.

US and UK forces rapidly captured the strategic Iraqi border town of Umm Qasr, and were last night heading for Basra, which is less than 30 miles to the north.

The beginning of the first land engagement of the conflict was marked by a US artillery bombardment of Iraqi positions across the Kuwaiti border.

The US 3rd Infantry Division paved the way for the ground incursion by hammering Iraqi positions with Paladin self-propelled howitzers and multiple launch rocket systems.

Explosions inside Iraq could clearly be heard as more than 100 artillery shells were launched. No fire was being returned. American infantrymen cheered as the 155mm shells screamed overhead.

RAF Tornado GR4 Harrier ground attack aircraft launched a series of sorties from bases in Kuwait in support of the ground troops.

Two Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarines joined US warships in launching Tomahawk cruise missiles on Baghdad. The Tomahawk can reach its target with pinpoint accuracy, map-reading its course and negotiating contours of the landscape.

The Republican Guard headquarters in the Iraqi capital was reported to have been hit as a series of heavy explosions rocked the city and tracer fire streaked across the night sky.

In the Commons, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told MPs that the coalition's military plan had been "crafted" to achieve the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator.

The Iraqis responded to the overnight attack by about 36 cruise missiles fired from US ships in the Gulf by launching at least four Scud missiles into northern Kuwait where British and US forces were massing.

There were no reports that any hit their targets, but throughout the day US and British troops were repeatedly forced to scramble into their gas masks amid fears of a chemical attack.

There were fears too that the Iraqis had started to set light to oil fields in a repeat of events from the 1991 Gulf War, with reports of three or four oil wells burning in the south.

l Traces of the killer poison ricin have been found in one of Paris's main rail stations.

The Interior Ministry said two small flasks containing traces of the poison were discovered in a left luggage depot at the Gare de Lyon. The find follows the recent discovery of the poison in a London flat

21/03/2003