Second day of Basra violence kills three

A FOREIGN security guard and two Iraqis were killed in a second day of violence in Basra yesterday in which British troops fired warning shots as crowds attacked vehicles and blocked streets with burning tires.

The British patrolled in tanks as stone-throwing Iraqis went on the rampage in protest against fuel and power shortages, but a tense calm settled over Iraq’s second city by yesterday.

The violence was some of the worst in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was toppled by US-led forces on April 9 and occurred in a city at the heart of the mostly Shi’ite Muslim south, which has been relatively peaceful in the wake of his fall. Iraq’s majority Shi’ites were repressed under Saddam, a Sunni Muslim.

Basra residents have been angered to see fridges and air conditioners stutter to a halt because of the power and fuel shortages as summer temperatures soar to more than 120 Fahrenheit. The British blame oil smugglers, looters and saboteurs for the problems.

Southern Iraq’s British-run administration said the security guard, a Nepalese Gurkha working for Global Security, was killed by gunmen while in a vehicle delivering mail for the United Nations. Retired Gurkha soldiers from the British army are widely employed by security firms in Iraq.

Reporters in Basra said one Iraqi was killed by gunfire. It was not immediately clear who had fired the shots in a city, which like the rest of Iraq, is awash with weapons. Two other Iraqis were wounded by gunfire.

Czech troops operating alongside British forces said they also had to resort to warning shots and that another Iraqi was killed when he fell while trying to climb onto a truck.

The Czech Defence Ministry in Prague said in a statement the troops fired the shots after Iraqis threw stones at a convoy carrying drinking water to a Czech field hospital. It said a military vehicle was damaged.

In a another incident, British forces said they returned fire from gunmen.

Young Iraqi men hurled chunks of concrete at vehicles during the unrest, while British armoured vehicles guarded petrol stations where frustrated drivers queued for hours in the heat.

“(The British) did not give us what they promised, and we have had enough of waiting,” said student Hassan Jasim, aged 19.

Influential clerics, some of whom want an Iranian-style Shi'ite theocracy, have warned they are impatient for the running of the country to be returned to Iraqi hands.

In a repeat of some of the violence on Saturday, cars from nearby Kuwait were targeted. Basra residents accuse Kuwaitis of involvement in smuggling cheap Iraqi oil out of the country.

Two US soldiers and a journalist were wounded in a grenade attack in Baghdad yesterday, a US military spokesman said. Al Jazeera television said one of its cameramen was hurt along with US soldiers when a grenade was thrown at a US patrol.

Further north, the US military said a soldier died of apparent heat stress while travelling in a convoy.