British defence minister visits troops in Iraq

BASRA, Iraq, May 18 (Reuters) British Defence Secretary Des Browne met troops in Basra in southern Iraq on Thursday, part of a two-day tour of frontline units that aides say the new minister hopes will give him an understanding of the situation.

''He's here to learn,'' said one British official in Basra, where attacks on British troops and disputes among local leaders have caused concern. ''He's here to meet as many of the people on the ground as possible and learn about the situation.'' Browne, who took on the job in a cabinet reshuffle two weeks ago, is accompanied by the chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Jock Stirrup. Britain has some 8,000 troops in Iraq.

Before briefings from commanders on arrival on Wednesday, Browne said Basra, Iraq's second city, was under control despite the death of seven soldiers in the area this month.

''Basra is calm and British forces are working hand in hand with their Iraqi and coalition partners. Suggestions that the city is, in some way, out of control are ridiculous,'' he said.

Five British soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash on May 6 and two were killed by a roadside bomb a week later.

After the helicopter came down, hit by a rocket according to police, troops clashed with rioters at the scene in the worst violence in the southern Iraqi city since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Up to five Iraqis are believed to have died.

British officials play down the extent of opposition to them, pinning much of the blame on violent factions within pro- government Shi'ite militias and on groups opposed to British efforts to reduce their influence over the police.

While relatively free of the kind of Sunni Islamist bombings of civilian targets seen in U.S.-controlled areas further north, Basra suffers from violence among rival Shi'ite groups.

British officials are hoping that the new, Shi'ite-led national unity government in Baghdad, expected to be formed in the coming days, will focus energies on calming tensions in the south. They hope that the dominant Shi'ite Islamist Alliance will seek to make Basra a model for good governance -- which in turn, they say, would hasten the departure of British troops.

British forces renewed contact this month with the local authorities, three months after Basra political leaders began a boycott of dealings with the occupying troops.

Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a prominent figure in the Alliance, visited Basra this week in an effort to ease tensions after the governor asked the local council to sack the police chief and became involved in a public row with local aides to Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

REUTERS MIR PM1253