Iraq bomb seriously injures two British soldiers

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: n/a
Date: 01 October 2006


BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb seriously injured two British soldiers on Sunday
when their supply convoy was attacked in southern Iraq, military spokesman
Major Charlie Burbridge said.

"A logistics convoy was conducting a routine resupply task when a roadside
bomb was detonated. The soldiers concerned were evacuated by helicopter.
Both are assessed to be seriously injured," he told AFP.

The booby trap severely damaged the troops' unarmoured truck as is passed
along a major highway in Meysan province near the restive southeastern town
of Amara, a hotbed of Shiite militia groups.

Burbridge said it was not yet known which group planted the bomb, and
added: "We have to accept that there are armed groups operating in Meysan
who still think they can attack multinational forces."

An investiagtion has been launched, he added.

A large British force recently pulled out of a base in Amara, which was
coming under regular mortar fire from militia fighters, and redeployed to
the desert near Meysan's border with Iran to conduct small, highly-mobile
patrols.

As a result, Burbridge said, the main force is much harder for militants to
target, while more vulnerable logistics convoys have become a target of
choice.

Britain has 7,200 troops in southern Iraq patrolling an area around Basra,
Iraq's second city and a bastion of Iranian-backed Shiite militias. Some
118 British troops have been killed since they joined the US-led 2003
invasion.
 
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