Four killed in British artillery strike in Basra

[Barrett808]

Source: Middle East News

Baghdad - At least four people were killed and four injured Monday when British forces responded with artillery to a rocket attack on their base at Basra airport in southern Iraq, a local official said.

The artillery shelling by British troops hit the Hussein residential area in Basra, 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, Akil al-Friji, a member of Basra's municipal council, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

A house was destroyed and several others were damaged.

Britain handed over security responsibility in Basra province to Iraqi forces in December. But it still maintains about 4,500 soldiers at the airport outside the city.

The airport base comes often under sporadic attacks.

Read more: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1393712.php/Four_killed_in_British_artillery_strike_in_Basra__Extra_

[bemildred]

1. Winning hearts and minds. nt

[Barrett808]

2. UK forces say may have killed woman in Iraq's Basra

UK forces say may have killed woman in Iraq's Basra
By Aref Mohammed

BASRA, March 3 (Reuters) - The British military said on Monday it was investigating whether a woman had been killed and three children wounded by a defective artillery shell it had fired in defence of its base in the Iraqi city of Basra.

Iraqi police and a hospital source said one other child had been killed in the incident, which came three days after a British airman was killed in a rocket attack on the Basra base. The British military made no reference to a second death.

The event took place after British forces, based on the outskirts of Basra, 550 km (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, came under rocket attack late on Sunday and fired three "illumination rounds" in response, said a spokesman for British forces, Major Tom Holloway.

"It is with regret and remorse that British forces learned of the death of a woman and the injuries to three children," Holloway said.

"There is an investigation ongoing to determine whether this is a result of an illumination round fired yesterday evening."

(more)

http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03219229.htm

[tuckessee]

3. Too bad the li'l Prince wasn't there

to share in the glory of this fine moment in British military history.