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US troop deaths top 1,900 in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-20 22:05
Outside the jail, a melee broke out in the streets as demonstrators attacked
the British armor with stones and Molotov cocktails. During the chaos, one
British soldier could be seen scrambling for his life from a burning Warrior
armored fighting vehicle and the rock-throwing mob.
Press Association reported that three British soldiers were hurt in the
violence, but said none of the injuries was life-threatening. Iraqi authorities
said three demonstrators were killed and 15 others wounded.
Lorimer said Monday's violence was blown out of proportion, noting the scene
made for "graphic television viewing" but that "this was a small,
unrepresentative crowd of about 200 to 300 in a city of 1.5 million."
Tensions have been mounting in Basra for some weeks.
On Friday, a local commander of al-Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to the radical
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was arrested, prompting a demonstration by
militiamen demanding his release.
On Sunday, an Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times was killed
after men claiming to be police officers took him from his home, the newspaper
said. Fakher Haider, 38, was found dead in a deserted area on the city's
outskirts Monday, hands bound with at least one gunshot to the head, the Times
reported.
Last month, freelance journalist Steven Vincent was killed after he wrote a
column in the Times accusing Basra police of being infiltrated by Shiite
militiamen. He was abducted and his body was discovered that night by a highway
south of Basra. A senior British official said Islamic militants — and not Iraqi
police — probably killed Vincent.
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