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British troops were attacked by 500 screaming rioters hurling rocks and petrol bombs outside Basra police station holding the SAS men. Two squaddies were seen in flames as they fled a Warrior armoured vehicle - in graphic images flashed around the world on television. Both Brits, from the Coldstream Guards battle Group, were being treated for burns last night in a millitary hospital. A third squaddie was also wounded. Two civillians were shot dead and 15 hurt in street clashes following the arrests of the two SAS men.
But officers gave their men strict orders NOT to retaliate to the rioting so as not to provoke the mob further. The pre-planned Insurgency violence was to avenge the arrest of rebel bosses on Sunday. The boss and No2 of Basra's Mehdi Army - militant followers of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr - were among six militants arrested with bomb making equipment in their cars. Followers have given Iraqi police 24 hours to release them.
A senior British Army officer said last night: "The people attacking us were not ordinary Iraqis who normally give us massive support. Most were probably paid to be there by the Mehdi Army."
Reporter Tom Newton Dunn
Having served in Iraq, I still find it ludicrous that a vehicle that is able to withstand the NBC threat and has a heavy armour capability can be brought to rest by a petrol bomb. Surely given the situation, the squaddies involved would have been better to have secured themselves inside the vehicle, than make themselves a vunerable target.
But officers gave their men strict orders NOT to retaliate to the rioting so as not to provoke the mob further. The pre-planned Insurgency violence was to avenge the arrest of rebel bosses on Sunday. The boss and No2 of Basra's Mehdi Army - militant followers of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr - were among six militants arrested with bomb making equipment in their cars. Followers have given Iraqi police 24 hours to release them.
A senior British Army officer said last night: "The people attacking us were not ordinary Iraqis who normally give us massive support. Most were probably paid to be there by the Mehdi Army."
Reporter Tom Newton Dunn
Having served in Iraq, I still find it ludicrous that a vehicle that is able to withstand the NBC threat and has a heavy armour capability can be brought to rest by a petrol bomb. Surely given the situation, the squaddies involved would have been better to have secured themselves inside the vehicle, than make themselves a vunerable target.