Mortar attack on British base in Iraq wounds four

BASRA, Iraq, May 15 (Reuters) Suspected insurgents fired about 30 to 40 mortar bombs at a British base in southern Iraq today wounding four soldiers, the British military said.

Captain Kelly Goodall said the attack on the Abu Naji base near the city of Amara, 365 km southeast of Baghdad, occurred before dawn.

The attack caused no damage to the base, Goodall told Reuters.

No other information was immediately available.

On Saturday, two British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Britain has about 8,000 soldiers in Iraq, mostly deployed in the Shi'ite Muslim south. A total of 111 members of the British forces have been killed in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Insurgents draw support from the country's Sunni Arab minority, once dominant under Saddam.

Reuters AK RS1147