Suicide car bomb kills two in Basra
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-09 18:45

The Guardian, a British newspaper, quoted Basra's police chief, Hassan al-Sade, in May as saying that the militias had become the "real power" in Basra and that he trusted only 25 percent of his own police force.

This summer, al-Qaida in Iraq, the militant group led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, threatened in an audiotape to unveil a new unit to eradicate the Badr Brigade.

But there has also been fighting in this region between the Badr Brigade and other Shiite militias, including the al-Mahdhi militia, which is associated with the firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Another Shiite power is the Fadila Party, which won tenuous control of the provincial government this year from SCIRI after allying with smaller parties.

Recently, Basra province Gov. Gov. Mohammed al-Waili, a Fadila member, has sharply criticized British forces.

On Saturday, al-Waili said British forces are compromising security in the region by conducting raids and arrests without coordinating them with Iraqi security forces.

On Thursday, British forces detained 12 Iraqis in a raid on a home in Basra, accusing them of being members or supporters of the al-Mahdi militia, which is suspected of carrying out recent attacks on British and U.S. troops in the region with help from neighboring Iran.

Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said his government suspected that Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah might be supplying technology and explosives to Shiite Muslim militant groups operating in Iraq, but he provided no proof.

British and U.S. forces have been attacked in recent months by roadside bombs packed with "shaped charges," which are much more deadly than conventional roadside bombs. Such attacks have killed six British troops since July, and late last month two U.S. soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded near their vehicle in Shaibah, a town near Basra.

Last month, British forces used armored vehicles to storm a Basra jail and free two of their soldiers who had been arrested by Basra police. During the raid, British forces learned that Shiite Muslim militiamen and police had moved the men to a nearby house. The British then stormed that house and rescued them.

At least five Iraqi civilians were reportedly killed in the fighting, and Gov. al-Waili responded by suspending all cooperation with British forces. He also demanded the return of the two freed British soldiers, something Britain's government has refused to do.