Two Britons held in Iraq for firing at police

Mr.Buttocks · **Two Britons held in Iraq for firing at police -** 09-19-2005, 02:25 PM

[url=http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-09-19T164541Z_01_YUE946529_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ-BRITONS.xml:ab3ef]<<<Link>>>[/url:ab3ef]

[quote:ab3ef]
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Angry crowds attacked a British tank with petrol bombs and rocks in Basra on Monday after Iraqi authorities detained two British undercover soldiers in the southern city for firing on police.

Reuters photographs showed a British soldier engulfed by flames as he scrambled out of a burning tank.

Two Iraqis were killed in the violence, an Interior Ministry official said.

"We can confirm that a shooting incident involving U.K. military personnel has taken place which is currently being investigated," a British military spokesman said in a statement.

"Two U.K. military personnel have been detained and we are liaising with the Iraqi authorities on this matter."

An Iraqi official in Basra said the British military had informed him the detained men were undercover soldiers.

"They were driving a civilian car and were dressed in civilian clothes when a shooting took place between them and Iraqi patrols," the official told Reuters.

"We are investigating and an Iraqi judge is on the case questioning them."

UNDERCOVER

Reuters photographs showed one of the two detained men with a bandage on his head. Police and Interior Ministry officials said the men were wearing traditional Arab headdresses for their undercover mission.

Mohammed al-Abadi, an official in the Basra governorate, said the two men looked suspicious to police.

"A policeman approached them and then one of these guys fired at him. Then the police managed to capture them," Abadi told reporters.

"They refused to say what their mission was. They said they were British soldiers and (suggested) to ask their commander about their mission," he added.

Reuters Television footage showed the tank trying to reverse away from trouble after it came under attack, apparently from petrol bombs as a crowd gathered around it.

Within moments flames emerged from the top of the tank, after a furious crowd hurled petrol bombs, burning furniture and tyres at it.

One soldier climbed out of the vehicle's hatch and jumped clear of it, as the crowd pelted him with stones.

A witness said people drove through the streets of Basra with loudhailers demanding that the undercover Britons remain in detention and be sent to jail.

Basra, capital of the Shi'ite south, has been relatively stable compared with central Iraq, where Sunni Arab insurgents have killed thousands of Iraqi and U.S. troops, officials and civilians with suicide attacks, roadside bombs and shootings.

The main ally of the United States, Britain said on Sunday it would if necessary increase the number of troops in Iraq, where it has about 8,500 soldiers.[/quote:ab3ef]

Undercover British soldiers, dressed as Arabs, shooting at Iraqi police. Interesting.

Short Hand · 09-19-2005, 04:46 PM

VERY ed:

Stammer · 09-19-2005, 04:58 PM

I saw a British soldier on fire crawling out of the tank.

ninty · 09-19-2005, 05:47 PM

Here's another article along the same lines:

[url=http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8286:9b582]Many Iraqis believe ’suicide’ bombings done by US to start a civil war[/url:9b582]
[quote:9b582]Ali Ghazi, also a Shia from the Iraqi deep south. "I believe it is the Americans who are doing this, pretending it is the Sunni, so there will be a civil war and they can control our wealth." Many survivors lying mangled by this morning’s bombs subscribed to a conspiracy theory according to which the US wants to rule Iraq by fomenting differences between Shia and Sunni.... many of those wounded denied there would be a war between Shia and Sunni. Mohammed Abdul Karim, an injured Shia at Noman hospital, pointed out that he was in a Sunni district and the Sunni doctors were doing everything to help him.[/quote:9b582]

ninty · 09-19-2005, 05:55 PM

Update:

[url=http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1140259:5ec02]British Soldiers Use Tanks to Crash Through Basra Jail Walls, Freeing Two Captured Britons[/url:5ec02]

Merlin122 · 09-19-2005, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninty

Update:

[url=http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1140259:f14ba]British Soldiers Use Tanks to Crash Through Basra Jail Walls, Freeing Two Captured Britons[/url:f14ba]

fucking hardcore right there. I can't say i'd do the same if my mates got locked up.

Vance · 09-19-2005, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninty

Here's another article along the same lines:

[url=http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8286:8683d]Many Iraqis believe ’suicide’ bombings done by US to start a civil war[/url:8683d]
[quote:8683d]Ali Ghazi, also a Shia from the Iraqi deep south. "I believe it is the Americans who are doing this, pretending it is the Sunni, so there will be a civil war and they can control our wealth." Many survivors lying mangled by this morning’s bombs subscribed to a conspiracy theory according to which the US wants to rule Iraq by fomenting differences between Shia and Sunni.... many of those wounded denied there would be a war between Shia and Sunni. Mohammed Abdul Karim, an injured Shia at Noman hospital, pointed out that he was in a Sunni district and the Sunni doctors were doing everything to help him.

[/quote:8683d]
LMAOO

Mr.Buttocks · 09-20-2005, 10:37 AM

[url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/09/19/iraq.main/:1bce2]Official: British troops freed in jailbreak[/url:1bce2]

[quote:1bce2]
The official said two unknown gunmen in full Arabic dress began firing on civilians in central Basra, wounding several, including a traffic police officer. There were no fatalities, the official said.

The two gunmen fled the scene but were captured and taken in for questioning, admitting they were British marines carrying out a "special security task," the official said.[/quote:1bce2]

Oops.

I've seen a few reports that stated that their car was loaded with explosives.

Mr.Buttocks · 09-20-2005, 10:55 AM

[url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091900572.html?nav=rss_nation/special:afd16]British Smash Into Iraqi Jail To Free 2 Detained Soldiers[/url:afd16]

[quote:afd16]
Iraqi security officials on Monday variously accused the two Britons they detained of shooting at Iraqi forces or trying to plant explosives.[/quote:afd16]

Madmartagen · 09-20-2005, 01:22 PM

wtf? gg undermining the new iraqi authority. what are british commandos doing shooting at police?

Pyro · 09-20-2005, 03:18 PM

If the US or UK do anything...it is ALWAYS for a good reason.

Sgt>Stackem · 09-20-2005, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pyro

If the US or UK do anything...it is ALWAYS for a good reason.

glad you finally got that right, now go sit down till we need you

imported_Fluffy_Bunny · 09-20-2005, 04:59 PM

Just like the shermans, 'Tommy Cookers' in World War Two, but I spose it was petrol bombs so there's not much defence for that.

[img]http://euronews.net/images_news/200909-soir-iraq.jpg[/img]

[img]http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas//basra.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2005/09/20/wirq20a.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.adelaide.indymedia.org.au/usermedia/image/12/Soldier_on_fire.jpg[/img]

[img]http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/in_pictures_basra_clashes/img/5.jpg[/img]

BeanerMan · 09-20-2005, 06:27 PM

Jesus. I haven't seen those images on the mainstream news. annoy:

Coleman · 09-20-2005, 06:44 PM