Despite spirited resistance from militiamen loyal to President Saddam Hussein and the loss of three British soldiers to sniper fire on Sunday night, the British army says it is confident of securing Iraq's second city by the weekend.

British army spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon told rediff.com that after a series of sorties into the city, the timing of the final assault on Basra had been left to brigade commanders who decided on Sunday morning that the moment had arrived.

Some 7,500 British soldiers participated in the assault starting on Sunday morning, which began with an attack on the Baath Party headquarters in the city centre.

Standing on the outskirts of Basra, one could hear loud explosions from within the city.

Soldiers returning in their tanks from the city centre, including those who managed to enter one of Saddam's palaces, told rediff.com fighting was still continuing in the outer peripheries, but were confident the city centre was under their control.

It appears the UK and US had miscalculated in assessing the likely resistance from people loyal to President Hussein and the reaction among the people.

Snipers hiding in the grass were responsible for the deaths of the three British soldiers who were killed on Sunday night when they emerged from their battle tanks for a breath of fresh air.

But even on day 19 of the Iraq war, the British army refuses to concede that it has been taken aback by the strength of armed opposition from Saddam's supporters.

"Basically, you have a third world army ranged against two First World armies and the Americans have used only a medium sized force made up of two divisions. The UK has deployed one division," Vernon said.

Success in Basra, he went on, would provide a psychological boost to US troops trying to wrest control of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Vernon denied the war had created a humanitarian crisis, saying there was ample food available in warehouses and fresh water was available although in limited quantities.

This is not the impression conveyed by several dozen professors and lecturers from Basra Technical College that has been requisitioned by the British army as a temporary base.

The teachers have been forced to leave their homes within the college grounds. They used expletives to describe their reactions to the British army.

One man, a lecturer of mechanical engineering told rediff.com, "I am a teacher. I dislike war. The people are not happy, all people here dislike the war."

Another lecturer of clinical pathology, who identified himself as Ali MacKenzie, said, "My wife and six children have been putting up in a room in a friend's house since we fled from the college."

"All my food, the TV, our clothes are in my house inside the college campus. I haven't got anything. The British won't let us go in. This is war," he complained.

"The population has been generally welcoming, but they are still apprehensive," Colonel Vernon responded.

rediff.com Senior Editor Shyam Bhatia is the co-author of Saddam's Bomb, on Iraq's search for nuclear weapons.