Gurkha, Iraqi die in riot-swept Basra

A NEPALESE Gurkha security man and an unidentified Iraqi protester were killed in riot-swept Basra yesterday, and an American soldier died of heatstroke as temperatures crept higher than 120 degrees.

Scattered protests over fuel shortages and power cuts caused by intense heat erupted in the southern city of Basra, the country’s second largest city, for a second day yesterday

“A Gurkha hired by the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) was killed,” the spokesman said, without giving details on the circumstances of his death. Gurkhas formerly with the British army have been hired out by a private security firm and are being used by the coalition, he said.

A cameraman also saw a protester shot and killed after an angry crowd surrounded a group of vehicles. It was unclear who was in the cars or who fired the shots.

About 1,000 residents burned tires and hurled rocks at British soldiers on Saturday, complaining of frequent power cuts and black-market fuel prices, said British military spokesman Captain Hisham Halawi. He said power cuts were the result of sabotage and extreme heat.

There were long lines at gas stations, and tempers flared up. British troops were deployed at major stations “to ensure people get fuel at right price, not black-market price.”

“They did not give us what they promised, and we have had enough of waiting,” said 19-year-old student Hassan Jasim.

In Baghdad, the US military reported two rocket-propelled grenade attacks on US forces. There were no casualties in the first attack, but two US soldiers and a reporter were wounded in an attack in the Baghdad University complex. The military said one soldier had recovered and returned to duty.

Al-Jazeera TV said one of its cameramen was wounded after the US patrol he was travelling with came under fire at the College of Islamic Sciences.

A previously unknown group calling itself the Iraqi Resistance vowed in a statement to continue fighting coalition troops in Iraq and said it had no links to Saddam’s Ba’ath party. The statement was aired on Al-Jazeera, the Qatar satellite broadcaster, “We swear by God, we will we make the whole land of Iraq a graveyard to all those villain invaders,” said the statement, read by one of four armed men wearing red-checked Arab headdresses to mask their faces. Two of the four men held rocket-propelled grenade launchers, two held Kalashnikov rifles.

“We are not remnants of the old regime. They failed to defend Baghdad, but we are sacrificing ourselves for the sake of Iraq,” the man said.

On Saturday, five men claiming to represent three previously unknown groups, the White Banners, Muslim Youth and Mohammed’s Army, appeared in a similar video broadcast on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel. Their statement referred to the deaths in recent battles in Baghdad of two “Arab martyrs”.

The US military chided a the militant group for choosing the name “Mohammed’s Army,” saying it was contemptible to invoke Islam’s prophet in their battle against the forces occupying Iraq.