UK frees soldiers from Iraq prison, witnesses say

BASRA, Iraq - British tanks smashed into an Iraqi prison to free two undercover British soldiers seized on Monday by Iraqi forces, an Interior Ministry official and witnesses said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said British troops using half a dozen tanks stormed the jail in the southern city of Basra. Dozens of Iraqi prisoners escaped during the raid, he said.

However, Britain later said the soldiers were released by negotiation. "We've heard nothing to suggest we stormed the prison,'' a defence ministry spokesman in London said. "We understand there were negotiations.''

Witnesses said they saw British troops lead the two soldiers into a tank after the raid.

A British embassy spokeswoman confirmed two British soldiers had been freed from jail by British forces in Basra but gave no details of how they had been freed.
Hours earlier, angry crowds attacked a British tank with petrol bombs and rocks in Basra after Iraqi forces detained the undercover soldiers.

A British soldier was engulfed by flames as he scrambled out of a burning tank, witnesses said. At least two Iraqis were killed in the violence, an Interior Ministry official said.

One of the British undercover soldiers sat with a bandage on his head after they were detained, a Reuters photographer said. His trousers were stained with blood spots.

Police and Interior Ministry officials said the men were wearing traditional Arab headdresses for their mission.

"They were driving a civilian car and were dressed in civilian clothes when a shooting took place between them and Iraqi patrols," the official said.

Mohammed al-Abadi, an official in the Basra governorate, said the two men looked suspicious to police.

"A policeman approached them and then one of these guys fired at him. Then the police managed to capture them," Abadi told reporters.

"They refused to say what their mission was. They said they were British soldiers and (suggested) to ask their commander about their mission," he added.

The British tank tried to reverse away from trouble after it came under attack from crowds hurling petrol bombs, burning furniture and tyres.

One soldier climbed out of the vehicle's hatch and jumped clear of it, as the crowd pelted him with stones.

People had driven through the streets of Basra with loudhailers demanding that the undercover Britons remain in detention and be sent to jail.

- REUTERS