June 26, 2003	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 25,1424

BAGHDAD, June 25: British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday ruled out sending more troops to Iraq, but admitted at the same time the security situation in the country was “still obviously serious”.

The US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, blamed members of Saddam Hussein’s banned Baath party for the sabotage that he said was responsible for what are now two days without electrical power in Baghdad.

Iraq’s Northern Oil Company said on Wednesday the latest attack a day earlier targeted an oil pipeline northwest of Baghdad that supplies a refinery and a power plant in the capital.

Speaking in the House of Commons after Tuesday’s incident in Al Majar Al-Kabir in which six British soldiers were killed, Mr Blair said he had been told by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Michael Walker that commanders in Iraq felt they had enough troops on the ground.

He suggested that the incident might have resulted from attempts by British forces to disarm Iraqis around the town, which is midway between Baghdad and Basra.

“There had been problems in relation to that, and that may form part of the background to it but at the moment it is simply too early to say,” Mr Blair said.

On Iraq as a whole, the prime minister said: “There are real problems, but there are also real improvements.”

In Al Majar Al Kabir, residents said the six soldiers died in a shootout with local people. Another eight Britons and 17 Iraqis were injured in firefights when the troops were confronted by a crowd of around 300 people.

Locals were angered by British troops carrying out house searches with dogs, one resident said.

Speaking on BBC radio earlier, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said an urgent review was underway into the security of British forces which control southern Iraq.

“Obviously, depending on the results of that review, we have more troops should that be required. We have significant forces available should it be necessary,” he said.

Britain now has 12,000 troops in southern Iraq.

The British had been telling themselves they were handling the situation in southern Iraq better than the Americans holding the centre and north of the country, who have been coming under frequent and deadly attacks from pro-Saddam resistance groups.

The second-in-command of Iraq’s main Shia group, Abdul Aziz al Hakim, last week rejected attacks on coalition soldiers and called instead for “peaceful” resistance.—AFP