Two British prisoners freed in raid
BASRA, Iraq – In a dramatic show of force, British soldiers used tanks to break down the walls of the central jail in this southern city Monday and freed two Britons, allegedly undercover commandos arrested on charges of shooting two Iraqi policemen, witnesses said. The Basra governor called the rescue a “barbaric” act of aggression.
But in London, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement that two British troops held by Iraqi authorities in Basra were released as a result of negotiations. It said the two service personnel were with British forces.
A Defense spokesman added he had no information suggesting they were freed as a result of any overt military action. But the spokesman stopped short of denying reports that British tanks crashed through the walls of a jail in Basra to free the two troops.
British Broadcasting Corp. quoted an unidentified Iraqi official in Basra as saying that the two Britons “were driving a civilian car and were dressed in civilian clothes when a shooting took place between them and Iraqi patrols.”
Arab satellite television stations showed pictures of two Western men sitting on the floor of the jail building with their hands tied behind their backs. One of the men had a bandage covering most of the top of his head; the other had blood on his clothes. Television commentary identified them only as Britons.
The fighting in the oil city of Basra, 340 miles south of the capital, erupted after British armor encircled the jail where the two Britons were being held. Demonstrators, apparently angry about the shootings of the policemen, hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at British tanks, and at least two people were killed.
During the melee one British soldier could be seen in a photograph scrambling for his life from a burning tank and the rock-throwing mob.
Aquil Jabbar, an Iraqi television cameraman who lives across the street from the jail, said about 150 Iraqi prisoners fled as British commandos stormed inside late Monday and rescued their comrades.
Press Association, the British news agency, reported that three British soldiers were hurt during the violence, but said none of their injuries was life-threatening, according to Ministry of Defense officials in London.
British military officials had declined to comment on reports the two arrested men were soldiers operating undercover wearing Arab civilian clothing, but the Ministry of Defense told Press Association that “two military personnel were detained by Iraqi authorities earlier today.”
Mohammed al-Waili, the governor of the province, said British raid was “barbaric, savage and irresponsible.”
To the north Monday, an estimated 3 million pilgrims – some carrying signs reading “We welcome martyrdom” – jammed the holy city of Karbala for a major Shiite festival in defiance of insurgent declarations of all-out sectarian war.
And an Iraqi court in Baghdad sentenced one of Saddam Hussein’s nephews to life in prison for funding the country’s violent insurgency and bomb-making after a previously unannounced trial. It was the first known trial of any of the former leader’s family.
Elsewhere Monday, militants continued bloody attacks, killing 24 police and civilians and wounding 28 others.
But there were no attacks in Karbala, where security was so tight that authorities had banned vehicles from entering for several days before the holiday. Pilgrims were forced to pass through seven checkpoints inside the city before reaching holy shrines. About 6,000 policemen and Iraqi army troops were deployed in and near Karbala, and two leading Shiite militias provided additional security around the shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas.
As the festival continued, al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi purportedly issued a new vow, promising he would not attack followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and other Shiite leaders opposed to Iraq’s U.S.-backed government.