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BASRA, Sept 19: Angry crowds attacked a British tank with petrol bombs and rocks in Basra on Monday after Iraqi authorities detained two British undercover soldiers in the southern city for firing on police.
A British soldier was engulfed by flames as he scrambled out of a burning tank. Two Iraqis were killed in the violence, an interior ministry official said.
“We can confirm that a shooting incident involving UK military personnel has taken place which is currently being investigated,” a British military spokesman said in a statement.
“Two UK military personnel have been detained and we are liaising with the Iraqi authorities on this matter.”
An Iraqi official in Basra said the British military had informed him the detained men were undercover soldiers.
“They were driving a civilian car and were dressed in civilian clothes when a shooting took place between them and Iraqi patrols,” the official said.
“We are investigating and an Iraqi judge is on the case questioning them.”
UNDERCOVER: One of the men sat with a bandage on his head after they were detained. His trousers were stained with blood spots.
Police and interior ministry officials said the men were wearing traditional Arab headdresses for their undercover mission.
Mohammed al Abadi, an official in the Basra governorate, said the two men looked suspicious to police.
“A policeman approached them and then one of these guys fired at him. Then the police managed to capture them,” Mr Abadi told reporters.
“They refused to say what their mission was. They said they were British soldiers and (suggested) to ask their commander about their mission,” he added.
The British tank tried to reverse away from trouble after it came under attack from crowds hurling petrol bombs, burning furniture and tyres.
One soldier climbed out of the vehicle’s hatch and jumped clear of it, as the crowd pelted him with stones.
A witness said people later drove through the streets of Basra with loudhailers demanding that the undercover Britons remain in detention and be sent to jail.—Reuters
