Backlash after UK forces hit Basra police station
By Steve Negus, Iraq correspondent
Published: December 26 2006 18:15 | Last updated: December 26 2006 18:15
The British military’s demolition of a Basra police station that they claim was used as a base for death squads has caused a political backlash, creating possible complications for the British campaign to purge the southern port city’s notoriously corrupt police force.
However, in an environment where militias, criminal gangs, political parties and factions within the police force all overlap in a patchwork of often competing alliances, it is difficult to tell exactly how widespread is the opposition to the British move against what they called a rogue police unit.
Several local leaders, including the head of the city council and a Basra police commander, have condemned Monday’s raid. Mohammed al-Ibadi, provincial council chairman, said the council had decided to cut off ties with British forces pending an explanation of why they destroyed an “Iraq government building flying the Iraqi flag” and removed detainees he described as suspected terrorists.
But a British military spokesman said it was unaware of any boycott by the full council, and some local officials including the governor offered their support for the operation, which involved Iraqi as well as British forces.
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