Originally Posted by mirror.co.uk

EXCLUSIVE: TOP GEAR CLARKSON SHOT AT 4 TIMES ON IRAQ JOB
From Chris Hughes Security Correspondent In Basra

TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson came under fire four times in one day from insurgents in Iraq.

The terrified Top Gear frontman was shot at three times in the air before the camp he was staying at was attacked by mortars.

Clarkson, who was not hurt in the incidents, said: "I knew this would happen - this sort of thing always happens to me."

One British soldier said: "We've never seen anything like this occur to one person, especially not a civilian."

Clarkson's ordeal began on Saturday morning when his Hercules flight from Basra to Baghdad was shot at by ground-based terrorists with rocket-propelled grenades south of the capital.

He held on as the plane took a sharp turn to avoid the flak and released flares to confuse the attackers.

A relieved Clarkson later joined US troops on a Black Hawk helicopter only to come under fire again, before his return flight to Basra was marred by another frightening assault by rebels.

Then within hours of landing, Shia tribesman launched a ferocious mortar attack on the city's airbase compound. Nobody was injured.

Clarkson, in Iraq to research a newspaper article, has now been dubbed "Target Practice" by squaddies. One joked: "People are saying he's saved lives because the Iraqis have used so much ammo trying to kill him."

PLANNERS have rejected the BBC's bid for a new Top Gear test track on a 100-acre airfield in the village of Enstone, Oxon.