- BAGHDAD -- Fourteen British
soldiers were wounded, three seriously, and some set on fire when a demonstration
turned violent yesterday in Basra, southern Iraq.
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- At least one explosive device was detonated and a number
of petrol bombs were thrown during the protest by people who had failed
to obtain work with the police and security forces. Witnesses reported
that some chanted the name of the Hamas leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, assassinated
by Israel. They said: "We are all sons of Yassin."
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- A military spokesman in Basra said stones were also thrown
at the troops, who responded with plastic bullets. It was not immediately
clear which regiment the men came from.
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- At first there were suspicions that bombers had used
the demonstration to draw troops into the area where a bomb could be detonated.
But the Army ruled out any terrorist connection.
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- The injured soldiers were taken to the British military
hospital at Shaibah, near Basra. The seriously wounded men were said to
be in a stable condition.
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- Major Tim Smith, the British military spokesman in Basra,
said none of those hurt was in a life-threatening condition. He added:
"I want to commend their restraint under enormous pressure in dealing
with the situation with the minimum of force.
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- "There is no evidence whatsoever to link this incident
with any other, or with political events elsewhere.
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- "Investigations are continuing but at present we
are treating it only as a public order matter."
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- Basra, Iraq's second city, was occupied by British troops
during last year's war and is widely seen as being easier to police because
its mainly Shi'ite population was opposed to Saddam Hussein.
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- Adam Ingram, the defence minister, told the Commons that
there had been reports of two blasts. But after investigations the Army
said it thought that there had been only one explosive device and a number
of petrol bombs.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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