BAGHDAD, 22 September 2005 — The governor of Basra, its provincial government, and hundreds of protesters said yesterday they will end all cooperation with British forces in the southern Iraqi city until Britain apologizes for deadly clashes between its forces and Iraqi police.
In London, British Defense Secretary John Reid and Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari tried to minimize the effect of the fighting, saying it would not undermine the relationship between the two countries or their determination to lead Iraq to peace and democracy.
But the fighting, which erupted Monday when British forces freed two British soldiers being held by Iraqi police and militiamen, raised new concerns about the power that Shiite militias with close ties with Iran have developed in the region.
Meanwhile, insurgent attacks continued in and around Baghdad yesterday, with a roadside bomb wounding two US soldiers, said Lt. Jamie Davis, a spokesman for the US Army. There were two other roadside bombings but no US casualties.
Elsewhere, fighting in the capital between Iraqi forces and suspected insurgents killed eight people, while US forces announced they had killed a regional leader of the country’s most feared insurgent group, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, in Haditha city, 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
The violence in the southern Iraqi city of Basra began late Monday when British troops stormed a police station using an armored vehicle to free two British commandos who had been arrested by Iraqi police. The soldiers were subsequently found in a nearby private home in the custody of Shiite militias.
The clashes, which also saw British troops attacked with stones and Molotov cocktails by a crowd, have raised questions about the role of Britain’s 8,500-strong force in Iraq, and doubts about the timetable for handing over power to local security forces.
About 500 civilians and policemen held a protest yesterday in downtown Basra denouncing “British aggression.” Several hours later, Basra’s provincial council held an emergency meeting and voted unanimously “to stop dealing with the British forces working in Basra and not to cooperate with them because of their irresponsible aggression on a government facility.”
In a statement, the council demanded Britain apologize to Basra’s citizens and police, and provide compensation for the families of people killed or wounded in the violence. The council also said it would punish employees who had not tried to defend the Basra police station from the British military attack.
Five Iraqi civilians were killed in the fighting, including two who died of their injuries yesterday in a hospital, and other people wounded, authorities said.
“The British troops should stop these barbarian and illegal actions,” Basra’s governor, Mohammed Al-Waili, said in a telephone interview. “I am one of the 41 members of the provincial council, and I support boycotting the British troops and stopping all the cooperation with them until our demands are met.”
In London, Jaafari and Reid, who met privately to discuss a wide range of issues, said the clashes in Basra will not undermine the relationship between the two countries.
“At this time, where there are forces in Basra and all over Iraq, such things are expected to happen,” Jaafari told reporters. “As for us, it will not affect the relationship between Iraq and Britain, and we hope that together we will reach ... the truth of the matter.”
Reid said “there has not been a fundamental breakdown in trust between the British government and the Iraqi government,” and he vowed British troops would stay in Iraq until it was stable. “We will not cut and run, and we will not leave the job half done,” Reid said.
