Six British soldiers die in Iraqi ambush

Six British soldiers died today in an Iraqi ambush in the ‘Sunni Triangle’ where Saddam Hussein has his greatest support.

They were killed by “hostile” fire, a military spokesman said.

They died in the first of two separate attacks in which eight other British soldiers were wounded, three of them seriously, said army Captain Dennis Abbott.

He declined to give further details on the first, deadly incident, saying only that the British troops came under attack by Iraqis.

Speaking from Basra – the city where British forces in Iraq are based – Capt Abbott said the wounded were receiving treatment.

He added that British forces are investigating to determine whether the two incidents are related.

He said that he did not know if British forces fired back after being attacked but said their rules of engagement would allow them to do so.

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.

Captain Abbott said that two British Army vehicles were also destroyed. He added that the helicopter involved was a Chinook carrying a quick reaction force. Another helicopter extracted the wounded, he said.

The two incidents occurred within a few miles of each other in Al Amarah, 80 miles north-east of Basra.

Earlier today, US troops had battled Iraqis at a checkpoint not far away in Ramadi leaving three Iraqis dead and one American wounded.

The casualties were the latest in a 24 hour period that has seen 25 attacks on US and British forces occupying Iraq.

It was the biggest daily death toll sustained by coalition forces since March 23, three days after the start of the war to topple Saddam Hussein and were also the first significant attacks on the British since major combat was declared over on May 1.

Pentagon officials said insurgents were ratcheting up anti-US attacks, staging 25 of them in the past day alone.

US troops have been coming under nearly daily hit-and-run attacks in the belt of central and western Iraq known as the “Sunni Triangle,” where Saddam had his strongest support.

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.

Thirty-eight British soldiers have been killed in both combat and accidents since the start of the Iraq war. Before today, none had been killed in combat since major fighting was officially declared over on May 1.

The government provided no details of the first incident in which the soldiers were killed.

In the second incident, ambushers fired on troops from the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment patrolling south of Al Amarah, a city of 340,000, wounding one soldier.

A helicopter dispatched to assist the ground forces came under fire as it landed, wounding seven people on board, three seriously.

The Ministry of Defence said all personnel on board the helicopter had been taken to a field hospital for treatment. It is investigating whether the two incidents were related.

The 1st Battalion has around 650 troops in Iraq who operated mainly around Basra and the southern oilfields during the conflict.

In Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, three Iraqis were shot and killed and one US soldier was wounded today in a gun battle at a military checkpoint, the US military said. Two Iraqis were wounded in the battle.

Elsewhere, Iraqi insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at US troops in at least three towns in western Iraq. And in Baghdad, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded across the river from the headquarters of the US administration. No injuries were reported.

Officials at the Pentagon said anti-US forces in Iraq were ratcheting up their attacks, staging 25 of them in the past day alone.

On Monday night, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the mayor’s office in Fallujah, the latest in a series of attacks against people thought to be co-operating with US occupation forces in Iraq.

US troops shot and killed one of the gunmen in Fallujah, a town 35 miles west of Baghdad, the army said. But locals said the man killed was not involved in the attack and was caught in the crossfire.