IRAQI TROOPS REPORTED PUSHING BACK IRANIANS
  Iraq said today its troops were pushing
  Iranian forces out of positions they had initially occupied
  when they launched a new offensive near the southern port of
  Basra early yesterday.
      A High Command communique said Iraqi troops had won a
  significant victory and were continuing to advance.
      Iraq said it had foiled a three-pronged thrust some 10 km
  (six miles) from Basra, but admitted the Iranians had occupied
  ground held by the Mohammed al-Qassem unit, one of three
  divisions attacked.
      The communique said Iranian Revolutionary Guards were under
  assault from warplanes, helicopter gunships, heavy artillery
  and tanks.
      "Our forces are continuing their advance until they purge
  the last foothold" occupied by the Iranians, it said.
      (Iran said its troops had killed or wounded more than 4,000
  Iraqis and were stabilising their new positions.)
      The Baghdad communique said Iraqi planes also destroyed oil
  installations at Iran's southwestern Ahvaz field during a raid
  today. It denied an Iranian report that an Iraqi jet was shot
  down.
      Iraq also reported a naval battle at the northern tip of
  the Gulf. Iraqi naval units and forces defending an offshore
  terminal sank six Iranian out of 28 Iranian boats attempting to
  attack an offshore terminal, the communique said.