British probe helicopter wreck, Basra calmer

BASRA, Iraq, May 7 (Reuters) British military engineers and investigators worked on the wreck of a helicopter today, a day after it was apparently shot down in the Iraqi city of Basra, leading to violent clashes between troops and youths.

The southern city was relatively calm after the street violence, in which five Iraqis were killed and 42 wounded, according to Basra's local health directorate.

British Defence Secretary Des Browne told the BBC in London that up to five Britons died in the crash of the Lynx helicopter, which has a crew of two or three and can carry up to 10 others.

Iraqi firefighters reported finding four bodies.

A defence ministry spokesman said the British toll was ''up to five'', but the British military has declined to say how the aircraft came down. Police said it was shot down.

''The engineers and people investigating the crash are still working,'' British spokesman Major Sebastian Muntz said, adding that they hoped to remove the wreckage later in the day.

Troops maintained a security cordon around the crash site, in the city centre close to the provincial governor's offices.

Iraqi troops and police kept a heavy presence throughout the city after an overnight curfew.

Browne played down the unrest and said it was not a fair indication of the state of Basra ''Just a matter of months ago it would have been unthinkable that the domestic forces of Iraq would have been able to make the contribution that they made yesterday,'' he told Sky television.

RESIDENTS ANXIOUS Many residents of Iraq's second largest city condemned the violence and voiced concern for the future.

''The violence is unacceptable, whether the downing of the helicopter or the reaction of the British forces. We all want our city to be calm and free from violence,'' said Saeed Salman, a 23-year-old university student.

Ibtihal Jasim, a 51-year-old housewife, said she was worried that the British, regarded in Basra as restrained in dealing with crowds, had opened fire, albeit with only a few shots: ''What happened here has startled Basra. I'm afraid that these incidents will develop because the British responded. This is frightening,'' she said.

Some casualties were caused by mortar fire. One mortar round hit a house, wounding adults and children, witnesses said.

The BBC quoted unnamed British officials in Basra as saying they believed many of the civilian casualties were caused by Mehdi Army militiamen loyal to radical young Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a key figure in Iraq's ruling Islamist bloc.

Youths chanting Mehdi Army slogans threw rocks and petrol bombs that caused fires on British armoured vehicles securing the site yesterday. British troops fired plastic bullets and, they said, also three live rounds.

Senior British officers have complained that rival Shi'ite militia factions have effectively taken control of different elements of Iraq's second city, close to the Gulf and the border with Shi'ite Iran, 550 km south of Baghdad.

Before yesterday's helicopter incident, 104 British service personnel had died in Iraq. About 8,000 are deployed in relatively stable southern Iraq.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani wrote to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to express his condolences, describing the deaths of those on the helicopter as a ''vile crime''.

REUTERS OM KP1715