Six British soldiers killed and eight injured in Iraq

SIX British soldiers died in southern Iraq yesterday, and an ambush on a patrol and a helicopter wounded at least eight others in one of the deadliest days for coalition forces since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The ambush was the first significant attack on the British since major combat was declared over on May 1. While Americans have been under fire in central Iraq for weeks, the British in the south have felt secure enough to patrol the country’s second-biggest city, Basra, without flak jackets or helmets.

Officials at the Pentagon said insurgents were ratcheting up anti-US attacks, staging 25 of them in the past day alone. American troops battled Iraqis at a checkpoint in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, yesterday, leaving three Iraqis dead and one American wounded.

The circumstances in which the British troops were killed were unclear. British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office announced the deaths in the southern town of Amarah, 90 miles north of Basra, but only said they occurred in an “incident.”

British troops came under attack in nother location only miles away in the mostly Shiite city. Gunmen fired on a patrol, wounding one soldier. A helicopter dispatched to assist the ground forces then came under fire as it landed and seven people on board were wounded, three of them seriously, Blair’s office said.

“It’s normally very quiet down here,” said British Army Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie McCourt, in Basra. “We’ve been here nearly two months now and this is the first time people have been deliberately, consciously shooting at us.”

At least 18 US soldiers have been killed in Iraqi attacks since May 1. Thirty-one British troops have died - 16 in accidents - since coalition forces invaded March 20. Britain has suffered no combat deaths since April 6.

Most of the attacks have been in the belt of central and western Iraq known as the “Sunni Triangle,” where Saddam had his strongest support.

Iraqi insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at US troops in at least three towns in western Iraq. In Baghdad, guerrillas fired a grenade near the headquarters of the US administration yesterday. No injuries were reported in that attack.

Late on Monday, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the mayor’s office in Fallujah, the latest in a series of attacks against people believed to be cooperating with US occupation forces in Iraq.

Meanwhile, US officials said the military was still holding Syrian border guards wounded during an American attack on a convoy believed to include leaders from Saddam Hussein's ousted regime heading toward the Syrian border.

Syria kept silent about the attack, which took place a week ago but only became known in recent days. Syrian officials refused comment, and state-run television, newspapers and radio made no mention of the clash.