Four UK troops die in patrol boat attack in Iraq
Source: Reuters
(Adds captain's comments on device, paragraphs 4-5) By Peter Griffiths LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Four British soldiers were killed and three seriously wounded in an attack on a patrol boat in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence in London said. Their boat was attacked on the Shatt al Arab waterway, the ministry said in a statement. The routine patrol was caught in an explosion caused by an improvised bomb, a spokesman said. Captain Tane Dunlop, the Multi-National forces spokesman in south Iraq, told the BBC: "The use of improvised explosive devices is very common in Iraq. It is slightly unusual in that this time it was targeting a boat." He said it was unclear where the device -- frequently seen in roadside bomb attacks in Iraq -- had been placed. Forensic and explosive teams are investigating the scene. "We do not have any details exactly on the positioning of the device at this time," Dunlop added. Britain has some 7,000 troops in southern Iraq, which has generally been calmer than the centre and north of the country, and 125 British armed forces personnel have died since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. More than 2,800 American troops have been killed in Iraq since the war began. The latest violence in Iraq comes as U.S. President George W. Bush ponders a shift in tactics in Iraq after his Republican party's defeat in last week's mid-term elections. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- whose popularity has also collapsed because of the war -- are seeking new ways to stop attacks by insurgents and gradually draw down their troops. Bush will speak on Monday to a bipartisan U.S. panel that is seeking alternative strategies for Iraq and Blair will give evidence to the same panel, co-chaired by former U.S. secretary of state James Baker, via videolink on Tuesday. The latest deaths came on the day thousands of British veterans and military personnel around the world remembered the nation's war dead at dozens of Remembrance Sunday services. "This terrible incident reinforces in our minds the sacrifice made by the brave men and women of our armed forces," British Defence Secretary Des Browne said in a statement.
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