Troops patrol petrol stations as calm returns to Basra

British forces were patrolling at petrol stations in the southern Iraqi city of Basra today after a series of clashes with residents angry about increased fuel prices and power cuts.

The coalition said it had thwarted a diesel-fuel smuggling operation, boarding a ship off the port of Umm Qasr and forcing it to return to shore.

Calm returned to Iraq’s second largest city after about 1,000 angry residents burned tires and hurled rocks and bricks at British soldiers, complaining of frequent power cuts and black-market fuel prices, British military spokesman Capt. Hisham Halawi said.

He said that power cuts were the result of sabotage and extreme heat at above 50C (122F). There were long lines at petrol stations, and “tempers flared up”.

British troops were deployed at major petrol stations “to ensure people get fuel at right price, not black-market price”.

Criminals have been taking down electricity transmission lines to get the copper wires inside which they sell on the black market.

Capt Halawi said coalition forces were investigating reports that Saddam Hussein loyalists and members of his Baath party might have taken advantage of the situation to instigate the riots. He said that British soldiers suffered minor bruises in the trouble.

Yesterday, a US 173rd Airborne Brigade on patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk came under rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire, said Lt Col Bill McDonald, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division operating in the area.

Two soldiers wounded in the explosion were in stable condition, Lt Col McDonald said. The troops returned fire, he said. There was no information on casualties among the attackers.

In south-central Baghdad, two soldiers were wounded in a roadside-bomb attack on their armoured Humvee, said Maj Todd Mercer of the 82nd Airborne Division. The military provided no details on the soldiers’ condition.

Also yesterday, the US military announced that Saddam’s former interior minister – No 29 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis – is in US custody.

Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmad surrendered to coalition forces on Friday, US Central Command said in a statement.