50th British soldier killed in Iraq

A British soldier was killed today, the 50th to die in action in Iraq. Another soldier was wounded in the incident near the Kuwaiti border.

The pair came under attack from small arms fire on their way back to base near Basra after a search-and-rescue operation, a coalition spokesman said. Fusilier Russell Beeston died in the incident.

A convoy of British soldiers had been carrying out a series of raids aimed at arresting local smugglers in the southern town of Ali al Gharbi, 90 miles north of Basra, when they were stopped by a crowd of angry people who blocked the main road. The soldier died in an exchange of gunfire.

Last week, three British soldiers were killed and a fourth injured after being ambushed in the same area.

The Army confirmed the latest fatality. Ministry of Defence spokesman Major Neil Greenwood said in Basra: "We are currently investigating." Army officials had hoped their low-key presence in the key port area would have made the troops more acceptable to locals. Commanders spoke of not changing their "softly-softly" tactics of engaging with local people upset over shortages of electricity and oil.

The triple killing on Saturday was said to be the work of criminal gangs rather than a result of the terrorism affecting the rest of the country, particularly around Baghdad. But a suspected influx of foreign fighters into Iraq is thought to have triggered more guerrilla attacks against the Coalition.

The latest death brings the total number of British troops killed to 11 since Washington declared the war over on 1 May.

A military spokesman in Basra said the soldiers' convoy was stopped by a group of about 30 Iraqis while on its way back from a routine raid.

They tried to drive round the roadblock but became trapped in the middle of a mob who opened fire with grenades and small weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

The soldiers are believed to be from the 1st Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers based at the former Iraqi army base of Al Amarah, 120 miles north of Basra.

Lieutenant-Commander Richard Walters said the men had dismounted from their vehicles to try to end the standoff before firing two warning shots to dispel the crowds.

During the shootout, one soldier died and another received a serious hand wound before troops took control and arrested 10 people.

The injured soldier was treated, said an Army spokesman, and was in a "stable condition".

The three British soldiers killed in an ambush on Saturday-were on patrol in an unarmoured civilian vehicle.

The men were Royal Military policemen attached to the 19th Mechanised Brigade and were in their Nissan four-wheel drive in Basra when gunmen pulled up alongside them in a pick-up truck, firing machineguns and throwing a
grenade. A fourth British soldier was seriously injured.

The family of one of the troops called for an apology after it was revealed the Ministry of Defence was selling armoured Land Rovers - designed to withstand such an attack - for as little as £3,500.

The killings were the first British casualties since the death of Captain David Jones from the 1st Battalion, The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, nine days earlier.

The toll of Americans killed in "post-war" Iraq reached 139 on Tuesday - surpassing the number of deaths in the six weeks of combat.