British soldier wounded in Basra bombing

A British soldier was wounded in a roadside bombing today in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

The soldier was wounded at about 8am local time in the blast while on patrol in the city, 340 miles south-east of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.

There was a second blast in the same area about two hours later. No injuries were recorded.

The blasts come a day after two US citizens employed by the Texas-based security company DynCorp were killed in a roadside bombing in Basra, the main base for British soldiers in Iraq.

A third American was seriously wounded in the attack, the US Embassy said.

Shiite Muslim-dominated Basra is one of Iraq’s calmer regions, but sectarian violence and attacks against British-led military personnel still occasionally flares.