IRAQ: One British soldier killed in major raid in southern Iraqi city of Basra

Record ID: 353341

  • Title: IRAQ: One British soldier killed in major raid in southern Iraqi city of Basra
  • Date: 7th July 2007
  • Summary: PEOPLE RIDING ON BICYCLES ON BASRA STREET
  • Embargoed: 22nd July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAF4B1B8D658Z9A13SBL9L46VRU
  • Story Text: One British soldier was killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Friday (July 6) during the largest operation staged by British forces in the country this year, a military spokesman said on Saturday (July 7).
    Major Matthew Bird said that around 1,000 British troops backed by helicopters and a warplane were involved in the raid to round up suspected militants, and that three British soldiers had also been wounded in the fighting.
    They said that British forces came under attack by Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and Rocket-propelled Grenades (RPG) while conducting a search-and-detain operation in al-Jumhuriya district of Basra late on Friday.
    Several people were detained during the raids.
    Television footage showed a tack of a tank left by the side of the rood and spent bullets scattered on street.
    Residents of the district said the British troops opened fire randomly, setting at least on civilian car on fire.
    "There was random shooting before dawn prayers at around four or three thirty in the morning. My car was hit and set on fire, we tried to go out but we could not because they were firing on us... The British troops. I was looking at the car from there but I could not get out," said a man who lives in the area.
    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wants his forces to take over security in the southern province of Basra from British troops within three months, his office said on Thursday.
    Maliki made the comment to new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a telephone conversation on Thursday, the Iraqi leader's office said in a statement.
    The number of British troops in Iraq was recently cut to about 5,500 from 7,000.
    More than 150 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
    Basra, which has a city by the same name, is home to southern Iraq's oil industry.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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