February 11, 2009 5:05 PM

As Brits Return From Iran, 4 Die In Iraq

(CBS/AP)  Four British soldiers were killed Thursday in an ambush in southern Iraq, and Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tehran's support for Iraqi militants could lead Britain "to reflect on our relationship with Iran."

The four British deaths — the biggest loss of life for British forces in more than four months — came as 15 British sailors and marines arrived home 13 days after they were seized by Iran off the Iraqi coast and held captive.

"Just as we rejoice at the return of our 15 service personnel, so today we are also grieving and mourning for the loss of our soldiers in Basra," Blair said.

In other developments:

  • The U.S. military reported the deaths of eight soldiers around Baghdad.

  • A U.S. Army helicopter went down south of the capital, but all nine people aboard survived, officials said.

  • (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin)
    A car bomb struck a Sunni Muslim television station in Baghdad's western neighborhood of Jami'a on Thursday, wounding at least six guards, a spokesman for the political party that owns the station said. Shortly after the explosion, the station went off the air, although a photo of a mosque with readings from the Quran, the Muslim holy book, appeared for a brief time.

  • Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday fired two senior members of his movement after they met with the top U.S. military officer in Iraq, a lawmaker close to the anti-American cleric said. The two were having dinner at the home of a former prime minister Monday when Gen. David Petraeus arrived; they failed to leave the room when the American walked in.

  • (AP)
    A bomb struck an oil pipeline Thursday, cutting off supplies and causing a huge fire in southern Iraq near the border with Kuwait, an official said. The pipeline carries oil from surrounding fields to storage tanks in Basra for export to the Gulf region, according to the official with the South Oil Co. But he said the tanks were full and export supplies had not yet been affected.

    "It is far too early to say that the particular terrorist act that killed our forces was an act committed by terrorists that were backed by any elements of the Iranian regime," he said. "But the general picture, as I said before, is that there are elements at least of the Iranian regime that are backing, financing, arming, supporting terrorism in Iraq."

    The British patrol struck a roadside bomb and was hit by small-arms fire about 2 a.m. in the Hayaniyah district in western Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, British military spokeswoman Capt. Katie Brown said.

    A Kuwaiti civilian interpreter was also killed and a British soldier was seriously wounded, Brown said.

    The explosion left a crater three feet deep. Hours after the attack, the helmet of a British soldier lay in the street alongside dozens of spent shells.

    Police said the British patrol was en route from detaining 1st Lt. Haidar al-Jazaeri of the Interior Ministry's Major Crimes unit. The police would not say why al-Jazaeri had been detained.

    The deaths raised to 140 the number of British forces who have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, with 109 killed in combat.

    Four British forces were killed Nov. 12 in an attack on a Multinational Forces boat patrol on the Shatt Al-Arab waterway in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. Ten Britons died in the Jan. 30, 2006, crash of a Hercules transport plane north of Baghdad.


  • © 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
    Add a Comment See all 71 Comments
    by randalds April 6, 2007 2:34 AM EDT
    All you folks, who want to wage wars on every country with a President who loses them - - - ENLIST DO YOUR DUTY
    Posted by j-whitman at 07:41 PM : Apr 05, 2007

    They won't. The biggest war cheerleaders are always the biggest gutless yellow-bellied cowards, like Bush and Cheney. It's no surprise that their most blindly devoted followers here are just as gutless, just as yellow-bellied and just as big of cowards as they are.
    Reply to this comment
    by norcalruss April 6, 2007 1:26 AM EDT
    Only Ronald Dumsfeld or John McCain%u2019s BS Express would paint a rosy picture of Iraq now. Its like Forrest Gump would say - stupid is as stupid does. When we elect an intellectual midget like Bush we get a stupid war based on lies that goes on and on with no end in sight. If Congress had any gonads they would impeach Bush and Cheney and try them as war criminals.
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman April 5, 2007 11:00 PM EDT
    Want to live under FEAR ?? - Put another republican in office.
    Reply to this comment
    by iceman_1960 April 5, 2007 10:49 PM EDT
    "Want terrorist attacks? Vote LIB!"
    Posted by mbcsmith at 04:42 PM : Apr 05, 2007

    That line worked like a charm in 2004.

    It won't work in 2008. That's a promise.

    The American people have wised up a lot in the last 3 years. The negative poll numbers for this administration have hardened, unlike those of Reagan and Clinton in their second terms.

    It's all over.

    "Want terrorist attacks? Vote LIB!" -- That dog won't hunt anymore. All it can do now is roll over and play dead.
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman April 5, 2007 10:41 PM EDT
    All you folks, who want to wage wars on every country with a President who loses them - - - ENLIST DO YOUR DUTY
    Reply to this comment
    by randalds April 5, 2007 10:37 PM EDT
    Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday fired two senior members of his movement after they met with the top U.S. military officer in Iraq, a lawmaker close to the anti-American cleric said.

    Too bad Bush fire Blinky Pelosi for the SAME thing!
    Posted by badaxmofo at 07:31 PM : Apr 05, 2007

    Typical right wing idea. Doesn't understand how the electoral process works (not surprising as Bush and most of his blind followers would fail a basic civics test with worlds first negative grade). Let me explain it in words you'll understand. Bush no hire her. Bush no can fire her. People vote for her. Not Bush. So Bush no can fire her.

    Simple enough? If not go on down to your learning place tomorrow (you know. The one room building where your pappy drops you on the way to the fields) and ask your School Marm to explain it to you.
    Reply to this comment
    by inventagod April 5, 2007 9:20 PM EDT
    Four more troops killed in Iraq protecting the Bu$h Oil Reserve today, and this does not even make the headlines in brain-dead America.

    What the heck will it take for US voters to realize they have been CONNED by the slickest bunch of lying politicians to have ever rolled into Washington?

    Or is this just OK with Congress?
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 April 5, 2007 9:01 PM EDT
    Groans, Blair sounds like a sound bite of Bush.

    Both these idiots will go down in the history books as the incompetent screwups they are.
    Posted by clestes at 05:53 PM : Apr 05, 2007

    they will go down in history as taking the fight to the fascist nazi islamic muslims......

    just like thomas jefferson did and theodore roosevelt did........

    the war that fascist nazi Islamic muslims started and continues on yet today%u2026%u2026

    The Truth about Islamic Crusades and Imperialism

    Historical facts say that Islam has been imperialistic%u2014and would still like to be, if only for religious reasons. Many Muslim clerics, scholars, and activists, for example, would like to impose Islamic law around the world. Historical facts say that Islam, including Muhammad, launched their own Crusades against Christianity long before the European Crusades.
    http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/11/the_truth_about_islamic_crusad.html
    http://www.americanthinker.com/2004/08/the_muslim_crusades.html
    Reply to this comment
    by clestes-2009 April 5, 2007 8:53 PM EDT
    Groans, Blair sounds like a sound bite of Bush.

    Both these idiots will go down in the history books as the incompetent screwups they are.
    Reply to this comment
    by randalds April 5, 2007 8:23 PM EDT
    The DS stands for Di*k Small. Your overcompensation betrays your inadequacies where it really counts. Please don't respond to any of my comments as your LIB SPEW has become quite tiresome.
    Posted by mbcsmith at 05:01 PM : Apr 05, 2007

    Why is it that when this right wing loonies like this get angry the always start asking about your di*ck size? Every time without fail the di*ck is the first thing they try to change the subject to. Only thing I can figure is this guy must be another republican Ted Haggard and that it's getting a little claustrophobic in his closet. Come on mbcsmith! Come out of the closet! I have several g*ay friends and they always felt better after they came out and I'm sure you will to. It's really for your own good and mental well being you know.
    Reply to this comment
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