U.K. Troops Cut Basra Presence
British troops in the tense southern city of Basra greatly reduced their presence in the streets Thursday, apparently responding to a provincial governor's call to sever cooperation until London apologized for storming a police station to free two of its soldiers.
For the second day, no British forces were seen accompanying Iraqi police on patrols of Basra, as they routinely had in the past.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. convoy in southern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding six others; a car bomb wounded another American soldier outside the capital; and suspected insurgents gunned down at least eight Iraqis in four separate attacks Thursday, officials said.
In an interview on Thursday, Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie called Monday's attack by British forces on a Basra police station "a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty."
At least five Iraqis were killed during Monday clashes between British forces and Iraqi police and demonstrators. British armor crashed into a jail to free the two soldiers arrested by Iraqi police and militiamen. Earlier, a crowd attacked British troops with stones and Molotov cocktails.
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The fighting has raised concern about the increasing boldness of Shiite militias in the south and the challenge they pose to the 8,500-strong British force there. As recently as Wednesday, Britain vowed to keep its troops in the country until they no longer were needed, but recently leaked information said it also was planning a troop reduction. The Shiite militias complicate the British role no matter which way it moves.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Iraqi civilians and policemen, some waving pistols and AK-47s, rallied in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, to denounce "British aggression" in the rescue of the two British soldiers.
Several hours after the protest, Basra's provincial council held an emergency meeting and voted unanimously "to stop dealing with the British forces in Basra and not to cooperate with them because of their irresponsible aggression on a government facility."
Basra Gov. Mohammed al-Waili called the attack "barbaric" and a product of imperial arrogance. He declared an end to all cooperation with British forces unless Prime Minister Tony Blair's government apologized for the deadly clashes with Iraqi police and compensated relatives of Iraqis killed in the violence.
Raising the stakes Thursday, al-Waili said any Iraqi government employee who cooperates with British forces in Basra will be punished. He also told The Associated Press: "We want the two British soldiers who were freed to be turned over to Iraqi authorities."
Britain has defended the raid.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari repeated assurances that the troubles in Basra would not cause a rift between the British contingent and the Iraqi security forces.
"I do not think that this will be an obstacle that cannot be overcome," al-Jaafari said Thursday at a Baghdad news conference after returning from Britain, where he and British Defense Secretary John Reid sought to defuse tension.
Each side has offered contradictory accounts of Monday's events, and al-Jaafari said he would be meeting with British Ambassador William Patey to "look into what has happened."
Al-Jaafari also again criticized Syria for doing too little to control its border with Iraq.
"The restoration and improvement of Iraqi-Syrian relations depends specifically on Syria's commitment and cooperation in securing the border," he said.
The United States and Baghdad repeatedly have accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross the border to join the Iraqi insurgency and providing sanctuary for militants operating inside Iraq.
Syria says it is doing all it can to control the frontier and denies giving comfort to insurgents or foreign fighters.
Iraq's state minister for national security, Abdul Karim Al-Enizi, said the Iraqi Cabinet has formed a committee to investigate Monday's violence in Basra.
The provisional council demanded that Britain apologize to Basra's citizens and police and provide compensation for the families of people killed or wounded. The council also said it would punish employees who did not defend the Basra police station from the British military attack.
Before the recent volatility, the British prided themselves on their good relations with Iraqi authorities.