Minibus driver Salim Wuhayib has started a shuttle between Basra and Nassiriyah, two cities caught up in the fighting. “I am going to Nassiriyah to drop these people off and then I am turning around and coming back,” he said as his 12 passengers sat calmly, shrugging their shoulders when reminded of the artillery fire and missiles in their city.

Getting to Nassiriyah won’t be easy. US Marines are facing unexpected resistance there in street-to-street combat. Militia with rifles fire on American helicopters and set up ambushes.

Civilians can get trapped in the middle. But that doesn’t seem to bother some Iraqis. Outside the southern city of Basra a steady flow of people were trying to leave yesterday. But for every two people trying to leave, one was looking to get back in.

Perhaps it’s all down to experience. Iraq lived through a brutal eight-year war with neighboring Iran in the 1980s and the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, which delivered bloodshed and 12 years of crippling sanctions. Two friends walking near Souq Al-Shuyukh yesterday said they were trying to catch fish from a nearby stream and then heading back to the town — even though it had witnessed an aerial bombardment a few hours earlier.

“We are used to this. It is nothing new,” said 25-year-old Kazim Abdullah. The only thing that seems to stir emotions is civilian deaths. Many angry Iraqis ask why US-led troops and planes are killing civilians in the heat of battle. But it doesn’t stop them risking their own lives.

Iraqis walk for hours along dusty highways hoping to get into cities that are under fire. Many have no information on their relatives because telephone lines are down.

People trying to get home get held up for hours at checkpoints, where many fear US and British troops could mistake them for combatants and arrest them. “They shoot at us and step on our necks even after we show them our civilian identifications,” said Kathim Ziyaad.

When Iraqis do leave trouble spots, it is usually only for a few hours to look for water and food. Or they simply stand beside tanks at intersections and watch smoke rise above their neighborhoods after shells land.

“I just want to collect some of these artillery boxes to burn so we can make bread,” said a woman in a black shawl, as she surveyed some scrubland while gunfire crackled a few hundred yards away.

A few kilometers further on, about 300 Iraqi men stood in line hoping to cross the bridge toward Basra as British troops tried to keep order. A mortar exploded nearby. But it didn’t seem to matter.