A SOLDIER from Runcorn has told of daily battles against violent rebels in Iraq after returning from a six-month posting in troubled Basra.

Andrew Hughes, a sergeant major in the King's and Cheshire Regiment of the Territorial Army, is back on home soil after enduring countless deadly battles between coalition forces and militants loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr.

Though he and several other TA volunteers flew to Iraq to undertake peacekeeping duties and help to rebuild the city, Sgt Maj Hughes says their remit changed almost overnight once violence began to flare up.

The father-of-two said: 'Everybody went out to do peacekeeping - that was our primary aim, to stabilise the situation in any way we could by renovating buildings such as schools and hospitals, or build new ones, reinstating the street lighting and building roads.

'But by August that had to pretty much come to a halt. The situation became so bad that we were told not to go out on non-essential missions.'

An uprising sparked by the cleric, who called on followers to wage a 'holy war to the death' against British and American forces, saw Basra suffer some of the worst violence in its history - worse even than during the war to oust Saddam Hussein.

During August there were more than 180 'contact' incidents - an Army term to classify anything from soldiers being shot at to having rocket missiles fired at troops.

'I don't think anyone was prepared for the extent and the number of the attacks and, certainly, what was actually reported in the media in Britain was just the tip of the iceberg of what was going on each and every day,' said Sgt Maj Hughes.

'Having said that, we all got on with the job, but the conditions were extremely difficult. People deal with things in different ways, but I think most of us just had a laugh and a joke to relive the pressure.

'It wasn't uncommon to be shot at or have rockets fired or mortars, and rebels left grenades at the side of the roads.

'It was a scary time, but there were periods when we weren't constantly under attack, which gave us some very welcome respite.'

Back home in Norton, his wife Tina and children Scott, six, and Emily, three, were anxiously waiting for news from Daddy, and sent plenty of letters and parcels to help him through the posting.

Sgt Maj Hughes said: 'Getting mail from home gave everybody a massive boost, and sometimes when there was a breakdown in the postal service and weeks went by without letters you could see everybody started to struggle.

'You had 20 minutes of phone calls every week and occasional internet access, and you could tell it made a difference.'

He left his day job as a service adviser at Gallagher's Garage in Warrington in April, knowing that the posting would be the biggest challenge of his life.

But, despite all his training, Sgt Maj Hughes says nobody really knew what to expect once they arrived.

'The country itself was devastated,' he said. 'It was in a very, very poor state. There wasn't much of a sewage system and the police force was very weak.

'When we left it was much, much better than when we arrived, but there's still a long way to go.

'June was a turning point, when we handed back power to the police force.'

He said the most positive thing about the trip was seeing the reaction of civilians.

'Before we went out, someone told us the locals would be very anti-forces, but they weren't - the children especially were very welcoming,' he said.

'I'd say 90% of the locals were extremely friendly and welcoming. They were glad we were there and were grateful for what the multinational forces were doing to rebuild their city.'

But morale took another knock as troops learnt about the kidnapping and eventual beheading of Liverpudlian Ken Bigley and his two American colleagues.

Sgt Maj Hughes said: 'We had Sky television and watched reports about the kidnappings on there. But what made it more real for us was that we were also getting information coming through from the militia to our intelligence cell, so we had more details.

'I wouldn't say it made us more wary, the kidnappings were organised by a different group in a different place so we didn't feel that we were at risk from kidnapping, but it did make people more angry.'

He added that he is getting used to life in the slow lane.

'I've been in a spin ever since I've been back, to be honest,' he said.

'I've got leave for a few more weeks then I will be going back to work. I've got plenty of things to do in the meantime, I'm going to spend some time with the family, do a bit of decorating and get used to being back. I keep having to pinch myself to tell myself I'm home.'