'1 Irish Guards & lec's breaking into the vaults of the Bank of Iraq Basrah.', April 2003

Coloured acrylic ink with pen and ink by Matthew Cook, 'The Times' War Artist, 2003.

Looters had tried unsuccessfully to blow their way into the bank, and the building had been set on fire. The Irish Guards and locally employed civilians (LECs) broke in to secure the vaults from further looting. It took three weeks to drill through all of the vault walls.