Iraq denounces British rescue in Basra

BASRA - Iraq has denounced British forces for their dramatic rescue of two undercover soldiers.

British forces used an armoured fighting vehicle yesterday to burst into an Iraqi jail in search of soldiers held by police in Basra. The British commander said he learnt they had been handed to militia and ordered their rescue from a nearby house.

"It is a very unfortunate development that the British forces should try to release their forces the way it happened," Haider al-Ebadi, an adviser to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, told a news conference in Baghdad.

The operation followed rioting that began, according to police and local officials, when the two soldiers fired on a police patrol. At least two Iraqis were killed in the violence.

Southern Iraq is home to several Shi'ite militias, including one loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who fiercely opposes the presence of foreign troops and has led uprisings against the US military.

Many Iraqis say the heavily armed militias act with impunity and are not answerable to the central government.

Tensions in Basra had risen on Sunday when British forces arrested two leading members of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

The tough British response is likely to further strain ties between Iraqis and British troops, who had maintained relatively good relations with the Shi'ite population of Basra with a low-profile security policy, in contrast to tougher US tactics.

Britain, which has 8,500 troops in Iraq, said on Sunday it would send more if necessary. But a leaked memo signed by Defence Secretary John Reid in July envisioned bringing most of them home over the next year.

British soldiers have faced less popular anger in Iraq than their US allies, but Iraqis vented their fury in Basra.

"Four tanks invaded the area. A tank cannon struck a room where a policeman was praying," said policeman Abbas Hassan, standing next to mangled cars outside the police station and jail that he said were crushed by British military vehicles.

"This is terrorism. All we had was rifles."

Basra resident Abbas Jassim said: "It is inappropriate for any Iraqi to be insulted by a British or an American or any other occupier, we reject the occupying forces.

"The British violated the government, police and the sons of this country, which we all reject."

British forces said the soldiers were in danger.

"From an early stage I had good reason to believe the lives of the two soldiers were at risk," Brigadier John Lorimer, the British commander in Basra, said in a statement.

- REUTERS