Security Situation Deteriorates in Basra

MARGARET WARNER:

Today's attack in Basra capped one of the deadliest weeks for British soldiers since the war in Iraq began. This eyewitness said the blast ambushed the British patrol around 2:00 p.m. local time.

BASRA RESIDENT (through translator):

A military convoy of about five tanks passed through here. A bomb exploded near them, just as they were passing through there. There were four dead, three or four injured, and one of the vehicles was completely destroyed.

MARGARET WARNER:

The blast, plus small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, left four British soldiers dead, as well as their civilian interpreter. It brought the total of U.K. troops killed in operations in Iraq to 140.

Six weeks ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced Britain would start withdrawing a quarter of its Iraq force over the coming months.

TONY BLAIR, Prime Minister of Britain: What all of this means is not that Basra is how we want it to be, but it does mean that the next chapter in Basra's history can be written by the Iraqis.

MARGARET WARNER:

Some 7,000 British troops are currently stationed in Iraq, most of them in the Basra area, a port and oil hub in southern Iraq wedged between Kuwait and Iran, nearly 340 miles from Baghdad.

This once-wealthy city of 1.2 million, Iraq's second-largest, is predominantly Shia. And it has been quieter than Baghdad, yet for months it's seen violence between rival Shia militias and attacks on British forces.

Today, Prime Minister Blair contrasted the deaths of British soldiers in Basra with the safe return of 15 U.K. sailors and marines held captive in Iran.

TONY BLAIR:

Just as we rejoice at the return of our 15 service personnel, so today we are also grieving and mourning for the loss of our soldiers in Basra, who were killed as a result of a terrorist act.

Now, it is far too early to say that the particular terrorist act that killed our forces was an act committed by terrorists who were backed by any elements of the Iranian regime, so I make no allegation in respect of that particular incident.

But the general picture, as I've said before, is that there are elements at least of the Iranian regime that are backing, financing, arming, supporting terrorism in Iraq. And I repeat that our forces are there specifically at the request of the Iraqi government and with the full authority of the United Nations.

MARGARET WARNER:

Blair has said Britain's ultimate goal is to hand over full control of the Basra province to Iraqi security forces, as Britain already has with two others.