More than 1,000 British and Danish troops stormed five houses in southern Iraq today, using ground forces, boats, helicopters and jets in a raid that detained five Iraqis and confiscated a large cache of weapons.

A British soldier was reportedly killed today and a second wounded when Iraqi police fired on an unmarked car near the Kuwait border.

An Austrian security guard taken hostage with four Americans was killed and one of the American captives seriously wounded, Iraqi police said today.