BASRA, May 6: Two British military tanks and a Land Rover were set on fire by angry Iraqis on Saturday as troops came to recover the crew of a British helicopter that crashed in the southern city of Basra, an AFP correspondent reported.

He said hundreds of people had gathered at the site of the crash and a few minutes later gunfire broke out between some armed Iraqi civilians and British troops, while a mob fired rockets at the military vehicles. Three vehicles were hit, one soldier was wounded by a shrapnel and an AFP photographer at the site was also hit in the leg by a rubber-coated bullet, he said.—AFP