BAGHDAD, June 26: British International Development Secretary Baroness Amos warned on Thursday of a worrying series of threats against Iraqis cooperating with the occupation forces in their efforts to rebuild the country.

“It is clear to us that there are forces out there that do not want the coalition to succeed,” Amos told a news conference after visiting Basra, Iraq’s main southern city now controlled by British troops, on Wednesday.

The British aid chief, who arrived in Iraq for a two-day unpublicized trip, voiced worry that Iraqis cooperating with the coalition were being attacked or facing threats from those who wished to derail post-war reconstruction efforts.

“I think what we’ve been seeing in the last couple of days with respect to Iraqis being attacked is a further worrying trend,” she said.

“Our worry is that this is about discouraging individuals who are prepared to work with the coalition, who are prepared to work with us on getting basic services up and running,” the secretary said.

On Thursday, an Iraqi driver for the Iraqi power utility was killed and another Iraqi in the same vehicle was wounded in Baghdad by an attack with a rocket-propelled grenade and an improvised explosive device.

The deadly attack came as much of the capital went into a fourth sweltering day without electricity following the sabotage of a key power line.

John Sawers, Britain’s top envoy to Iraq, who presided over the news conference, blamed men from Saddam Hussein’s now banned Baath party for attacks against Iraqi aid workers.

“The oppositions that we had in the last month or so has come from remnants of the Baathist regime,” Sawers said.

“There have been both threats and actual attacks against people in key positions to deliver services to Iraqi people. This is clearly a form of intimidation against cooperation. It is a further attempt to disrupt normal life and to try to generate a sense of uncertainty for ordinary people,” he said.

But the envoy added that the scale of threats so far remained “limited.”

Amos called the death of six British soldiers this week a “terrible tragedy” but declined to comment any further.

The six men were killed on Tuesday in the town of Al Majar Al Kabir, 200 kilometres north of Basra. It was the worst single incident involving coalition forces since the end of the Iraq war on May 1.

“We think that it does not represent the relationship we have established in the south,” Amos said, adding that Britain would commit an additional 35 million pounds. London has so far given 120 million pounds in aid to Iraq.

During her short visit, Amos met with coalition and UN officials including the UN special representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.—AFP