"We will try to maintain a sense of law and order," Air Marshal Brian Burridge told a briefing at the planning headquarters for the US-British war on Iraq.

"It's difficult, but we have a lot of practice in it and we'll do our best."

Following a decisive thrust by British troops into Basra on Sunday, there were reports that local residents had begun to take revenge on stalwarts from the ruling Baath Party.

Widespread looting was also said to have taken place as the 24-year-rule of President Saddam Hussein, loathed by much of the Shiite population of southern Iraq he is accused of having abused and oppressed, began to unravel.

Burridge recalled an uprising by Shiites in southern Iraq at the conclusion of the Gulf War in early 1991 that was put down by Saddam loyalists.

"The degree of slaughter was terrible," Burridge said. "There are undoubtedly people who will wish to settle scores from that stage -- now we'll try and stop them doing that."

Early on Monday, British soldiers allowed a mob loot the local Baath headquarters in Basra in what the army called a bid to show the US-led war was aimed at helping civilians and ridding the country of the regime's supporters.

The building -- situated five kilometres (three miles) to the southeast of the city near an oil refinery -- was filled with vast stocks of food, according to troops who took part in the pre-dawn raid to take the area.

The supplies were quickly carried off by a crowd of civilians from nearby Basra suburbs.

"Normally we would stop looting because it is a sign that things have got out of control and law and order has broken down," Captain Alex Cartwright with the 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers told journalists in the city.

"But in this case we decided that to allow it would send a more powerful message -- that we are in control now, not the Baath Party."

SPACE.WIRE