British troops detain Iraqi police officers in raids

British troops today detained several police officers among more than a dozen Iraqis linked to a spate of killings, bombings and kidnappings in the southern city of Basra.

British and Iraqi forces detained 14 people, including several Iraqi police officers, in a series of morning raids aimed at ridding rogue elements from Basra’s security services, Brigadier Patrick Marriott said.

The raids come amid an upsurge of roadside bombings and other violent acts in Basra, a Shiite Muslim-dominated city and the main base for British forces in Iraq, some 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. Basra’s police force has long been believed to have been infiltrated by Shiite militiamen.

Marriott said those detained included officers and members of Basra police’s criminal investigation agency, criminal evidence directorate, police internal affairs and major crimes unit. The joint British-Iraqi force was supported by military aircraft in the operation.

“This operation aims at refining the police force (of) corrupted persons with the cooperation of Basra police and the supervision of the Iraqi Interior Ministry,” Marriott told reporters at a press conference.

Marriott said the detainees are suspected of involvement in “sabotage activities” against coalition forces and Iraqi police, plus kidnapping, killing and threatening local citizens and police personnel.

Several hundreds Iraqis, many relatives of one of the detained policemen, Lt. Abbas Munis, protested outside the Basra governor’s office demanding the man’s release. The other detained is Major Jassim al-Daraji, assistant director of Basra’s criminal intelligence department, said police spokesman Lt. Abbas al-Basri.

Fears of militant infiltration into Iraq’s police and army, plus a spate of bloody sectarian-related violence could torpedo efforts to form a national unity government comprising Iraq’s three main communities – the dominant Shiites and Kurds with the Sunni Arabs.