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Mob violence after bomb kills UK troops Gethin Chamberlain Chief News Correspondent 1 March 2006, The Scotsman RELATIONS between UK forces and locals in southern Iraq reached a new low yesterday as two British soldiers were killed and another was injured by a roadside bomb. The bomb was detonated next to a Land Rover patrol in the town of Al Amarah in Maysan province, scene of the notorious video of British soldiers beating up Iraqi rioters two years ago. Two soldiers attached to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards battle group died in the blast and one was hurt. After the three were flown out by helicopter, British troops maintaining a cordon around the scene of the bombing came under attack from a stone-throwing mob. The attack on the British patrol, near a playground, came on a day of carnage across Iraq - five bombs rocked the capital, Baghdad, killing dozens of people. British commanders had feared that the News of the World's decision to publish pictures taken from the video would inflame tensions in the area and further endanger the lives of British troops. One witness to the Al Amarah attack said a car bomb had been used to target the soldiers as they patrolled in Land Rovers. Other troops arriving at the scene were stoned by a mob, including young children. Video footage thought to have been taken very shortly after the attack showed a crowd throwing missiles at four British soldiers standing close to a Warrior armoured fighting vehicle. Two army Land Rovers, thought to have been part of the patrol, were nearby and the front of one of them was badly damaged. A vehicle thought to have been used for the bomb was still ablaze and the road was strewn with debris. By 4:15pm local time, all the troops involved were back at Camp Abu Naji, on the outskirts of the town, and the Ministry of Defence said there had been no injuries to servicemen during the disturbances following the bomb attack. It is thought all three of yesterday's casualties were from England, and the British death toll in Iraq now stands at 103, with several hundred injured. John Reid, the defence secretary, said that, as ever, his thoughts and deepest sympathies were with the families of those who had lost their lives. "It is with deep regret that I can confirm the death of two British soldiers, killed by a terrorist bomb as they carried out their duties in south-east Iraq this morning," he said. Al Amarah is close to the Iranian border and an army investigation, already under way, will analyse bomb components to see if they are traceable to Iran. British officials have previously accused Iran of supplying hi-tech devices used in a series of similar attacks on British forces, a charge denied by Tehran, which has countered by accusing Britain of training insurgents to carry out attacks on its territory. Troops in southern Iraq have been braced for trouble since the News of the World published pictures of UK soldiers attacking rioters snatched off the streets of Al Amarah. The pictures were taken from a video apparently shot in the town in January 2004 at the height of rioting staged by local men protesting about soaring unemployment levels. British soldiers were seen chasing the rioters and grabbing several of them who were taken inside a compound and kicked and punched. The footage caused outrage in Iraq and in other parts of the Muslim world and, although pictures later emerged showing the rioters throwing home-made bombs at the soldiers moments earlier, the damage had been done and the civil authorities in Al Amarah and in Basra to the south withdrew their cooperation. Since then, British forces have been on heightened alert, fearing the same sort of backlash that accompanied the previous publication of abuse allegations. After faked pictures of abuse appeared in the Daily Mirror in May 2004, the MoD reported that 11 soldiers had been injured in 100 engagements with Iraqi gunmen in and around Basra and Al Amarah. Nine soldiers were injured last January in an attack on a British base in Basra after pictures of UK troops abusing prisoners were published by a court martial. After yesterday's bombing, a British military spokesman in Basra, said: "There has been an incident in Al Amarah and two soldiers were killed and a further soldier sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Next of kin are being informed and no further information will be released until this has taken place. We can also confirm there has been a disturbance following the original incident." Al Amarah, on the river Tigris, south of Baghdad, has been the scene of trouble before, with both local rioting and insurgent attacks. Last month, Lance Corporal Allan Douglas, 22, from Aberdeen, was shot and fatally wounded while on a routine patrol there. And in July last year, three soldiers - Second Lieutenant Richard Shearer, Private Leon Spicer and Private Phillip Hewett of the 1st Battalion the Staffordshire Regiment - died when an explosion hit a patrol of three Land Rovers.
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