Soldier killed in Iraq roadside bomb
A British soldier was killed when a roadside bomb hit an army patrol in southern Iraq today.
Four other soldiers were wounded in the attack in Basra, said British military spokeswoman Captain Katie Brown.
Britain, which has the largest troop contingent among the US allies, with about 7,000 soldiers in the Basra area, is planning to withdraw a large portion of them this year
At least 19 American service members were also killed in military operations yesterday in the deadliest day for US forces in two years, including 12 who died in a helicopter crash and five in an attack by militia fighters in the holy city of Karbala, military officials said.
The toll was the third highest of any single day since the war began in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 US deaths on January 26, 2005.
The heavy toll comes at a critical time of rising congressional opposition to President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the conflict to try to curb sectarian slaughter.
The military gave little information on the crash of the Army Black Hawk helicopter during good weather in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. US and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias for months in the province, around the city of Baqouba.
Lt Col Josslyn Aberle, a US spokeswoman, said the cause of the crash had not been determined. Navy Capt. Frank Pascual, a member of a US media relations team in the United Arab Emirates, told Al-Arabiya television that the helicopter was believed to have suffered technical troubles before going down.
The military initially said 13 people were on board the aircraft but corrected the number today saying 12 soldiers died, including eight passengers and four crew members.
Five US soldiers were also killed last night when militia fighters attacked a provincial headquarters in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala, the military said in a statement.
The statement said "an illegally armed militia group" attacked the building with grenades, small arms and "indirect fire", which usually means mortars or rockets. The statement said three other soldiers were wounded repelling the attack.
"A meeting was taking place at the time of the attack to ensure the security of Shiite pilgrims participating in the Ashoura commemorations," said a statement from Brig Gen Vincent K. Brooks, deputy commander of the Multi-National Division-Baghdad.
Karbala is 50 miles south of Baghdad and thousands of Shiite pilgrims are flocking to the city to mark the 10-day Ashoura festival commemorating the death of one of Shiite Islam's most sacred saints, Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.
Brooks said Iraqi officials and security forces as well as US troops were present at the meeting, but his statement did not mention other casualties from the attack. It said the headquarters had "been secured by coalition and Iraqi security forces."
Also yesterday, roadside bombs killed a soldier in the capital and one in Nineveh province north of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the first reinforcements of US troops under the new Bush strategy have already started to flow into the Baghdad region. A brigade of the US 82nd Airborne Division, part of the build up, has arrived in Baghdad and will be ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence in the capital by the first of the month, the American military said today.
The 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne consists of about 3,200 soldiers who will "assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a transition to full Iraqi control of security in the city," the military said in a statement.
It also said the brigade would be fully operational within Baghdad on or about February 1. US and Iraqi officials have not given a date for when the operation will start.
In south Baghdad, US helicopters dropped Iraqi police commandos into the dangerous Dora neighbourhood to stage a raid on the Omar Brigade, an al-Qaida-linked Sunni militant group, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.
Khalaf said 15 insurgents were killed and five captured during an intense battle at two abandoned houses taken over by Sunni gunmen, who he blamed for a series of kidnappings and killings in a bid to cleanse the once-mixed neighbourhood of Shiite residents.
