Sadr army attacks UK forces in Basra

Shi’ite militiamen, loyal to embattled rebel Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, launched a series of hit-and-run attacks on British forces in Basra on Saturday, witnesses said. At least two Iraqis were killed and three British soldiers wounded in the fighting, a British military spokeswoman said.

Hundreds of Sadr’s Mahdi Army militiamen armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades took over several areas of Iraq’s second-biggest city and set up checkpoints on the streets. Witnesses said fighters fired at British patrols and positions in several quarters of Basra. Some streets were largely deserted and many shops closed. Iraqis had demonstrated outside the governor’s building, the British spokeswoman said. Residents said they had heard some Mahdi militiamen vowing to expel British troops from the city.

A British spokesman said large crowds, including armed men, gathered near the headquarters of the South Oil Company. In Amara to the north, British forces stormed an office of Sadr’s movement, triggering fierce gunbattles with his Mahdi militiamen. At least three fighters were killed and eight wounded in the fighting, witnesses said. — (Reuters)