BASRA, Aug 10: Iraqis rioted on Sunday in Basra for a second day over the coalition’s failure to restore basic services, leaving three dead, as US troops came under attack and top officials warned of a growing danger from Islamic groups.

Two Iraqis were killed and eight others wounded in this southern port city, medical sources said, when British troops struggling to control a population enraged by the coalition’s failure to restore basic services came under fire and shot back.

A Nepalese Gurkha security guard attached to the US-British coalition was also killed in the riot-swept city, a coalition spokesman said, without giving details on the circumstances of his death.

Gurkhas formerly with the British army have been hired out by a private security firm and are being used by the coalition.

Earlier, British officials confirmed that their troops had fired on gunmen hidden in the crowd, angry at Basra’s power shortage and lack of fuel at gas stations.

“There are four protests in northern Basra. They have turned into some small riots. There has been an instance where some British soldiers came under fire, and they returned aimed shots,” British spokesman Major Charlie Mayo said.

Mr Mayo stressed the rest of the city of 1.5 million was quiet as British troops distributed fuel to gas stations for a population fed up with gas shortages, electricity outages and the rampant smuggling of petrol under the coalition’s nose.

British soldiers also came under attack in other parts of southern Iraq on Sunday, with incidents in the Maysan province and its capital of Al-Amara where six soldiers were killed in June by an angry mob.

“Three Iraqi gunmen were killed in the last 24 hours in three separate incidents in Maysan province, but there were no injuries to the British soldiers,” said coalition spokesman Staff Sergeant Amy Abbott.

HEAT STROKE: A US soldier died of heat stroke while travelling in blistering southern Iraq where temperatures regularly hit 50 degrees Celsius, a military spokesman said on Sunday.