April bloodiest month for UK troops in Iraq since 2003

By Staff
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BAGHDAD, Apr 25 (Reuters) British troops in Iraq passed a bloody milestone this week with the killing of a 20-year-old gunner in the southern city of Basra.

Eleven British soldiers have now been killed in Iraq this month, the highest number of casualties suffered by British forces in a single month since March 2003 when 27 were killed in the opening days of the US-led invasion.

British military analyst Tim Ripley said Basra had become more dangerous for British troops following the announcement by Prime Minister Tony Blair in February that the size of the force was to be reduced by a quarter.

''Now is their chance to prove that you were in the forefront of the struggle and you drove out the imperialists,'' said Ripley, who writes about Iraq for Jane's publications.

British forces have handed over a third province to Iraqi security control this month and pulled out from the third of five military bases in and around the port city of Basra, the hub of Iraq's southern oil fields.

They are also preparing to reduce their 7,000-strong force in Basra to about 5,500 by the beginning of June and some senior officers say troops face a stepped-up campaign by militias.

However, British military spokesman Major David Gell said from Basra: ''I put down the saddening number of deaths to tragic coincidence. There is no logic to it.'' Basra has not experienced the sectarian violence in Baghdad but Shi'ite militias, particularly radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, are a powerful force in the city.

British bases have been struck almost daily by mortar fire and patrols hit by roadside bombs and machinegun fire.

Alan Joseph Jones, a gunner on a Warrior fighting vehicle, was shot in Basra on Monday. In the worst single attack this month, four soldiers died when their Warrior was blown up.

POWER STRUGGLE Sadr's followers are vying for control of Basra's oil wealth, the source of most of Iraq's revenues, with the locally powerful Fadhila party.

Gell said there had been an increase in attacks against British troops between September 2006 and February but they had since levelled off.

''The militias do want us out and obviously they are trying to present this as a Brits bombed out of Basra scenario, which will not happen,'' he said.

British forces are pursuing a more aggressive policy towards Shi'ite militias before handing over the security control of Basra to Iraqi security forces later this year.

British military officials have dismissed suggestions that the violence might lead to a delay in the handover, a view echoed by Blair's spokesman today.

''I'm not aware of any changes to our plans ... What we need to focus on are the efforts both in Basra and Baghdad to transfer responsibility to the Iraqi authorities as quickly as possible but do so when the conditions on the ground allow,'' he said.

REUTERS ABM HS1835

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