Two British soldiers killed in Iraq
Pastor Dale Morgan
Two British soldiers killed in Iraq*
By Jasper Copping, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:40am BST 07/07/2007
Two British soldiers have been killed and three have been injured in
separate incidents in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence has said.
Two British soldiers killed in Iraq
Basra has been rocked by heavy fighting
The first soldier, from the 4th Battalion, The Rifles, died at the Basra
Palace base in the centre of the city, on Friday afternoon in a
non-combatant accident.
An MoD spokeswoman said an investigation was under way and his next of
kin have been informed.
A second soldier was killed and three were injured in separate incidents
during a large-scale operation around Basra overnight.
About 1,000 troops were involved in the operation to arrest individuals
suspected of other attacks.
The soldier, who has not yet been named, was killed when an improvised
explosive device detonated while he was on patrol in the Tuninah
district, north of Basra. He was killed just after midnight, local time.
Next of kin have not yet been informed, an MoD spokeswoman said.
The attacks came during a night of heavy fighting in the Basra region
when troops were hit with bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire.
UK military spokesman Major David Gell said the operation the soldiers
were involved in was the largest of its kind to be carried out in Basra
this year.
It was aimed at arresting individuals believed to be responsible for
recent attacks on the Iraqi Provincial Joint Co-ordination Centre, where
Iraqi security forces and multi-national forces are based. Several
arrests were made.
Coalition warplanes destroyed roadside bombs from the air as the troops
pulled out of the city in the latter stages of the operation, Major Gell
said.
The latest deaths brings the total number of British military casualties
in Iraq since March 2003 to 158. Of those 122 are classed as having been
killed in hostile action.
Britain has withdrawn hundreds of troops from Iraq, leaving a force of
about 5,500 based mainly on the fringes of Basra, Iraq's second-largest
city, 340 miles south-east of Baghdad. Their bases frequently come under
mortar fire from Shia militants in the city.