"My word to them would be take the initiative," British military spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood told BBC radio from the Gulf as British troops tightened their noose around Basra.

"There are many avenues available to them to contact our forces," he said, "and if they wish to surrender the city, we would help them."

"We are more than willing to stop the fighting and end any chance of civilian casualties," he added. "Let's get Basra back up and running for the good of its people."

He ruled out a shock assault on Basra, saying that, barring a surrender, "slowly, slowly" was the way to proceed.

"We are treating it very carefully... We are getting lots of very good information from people who are talking to us, and resistance is dropping off as the days go on."

On Basra's outskirts on Saturday, the commander of British army's Black Watch regiment told visiting journalists that British troops would only move into the city once they get a go-ahead from US Central Command in Qatar.

SPACE.WIRE