Angry Iraqis Throw Stones at UK Troops in Basra

[Nambe]

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters)

British troops fired into the air to disperse stone-throwing Iraqis protesting the lack of petrol and power in the country's second largest city of Basra Saturday, witnesses said.

A British military spokesman told Reuters there had been trouble at a petrol station in the city and that some Iraqis had stoned and burned a Kuwaiti tanker.

He said British forces rescued the occupants of the vehicle but could not confirm witness accounts that soldiers fired into the sky.

Witnesses said the soldiers opened fire after the angry crowd threw stones at soldiers and at the Kuwaiti tanker at the station in Saad Square in Basra. The crowd then set on fire the tanker, they said.

One witness said he saw three British soldiers injured by stones. The British spokesman could not confirm there had been any injuries. ---

[Paschall]

1. You mean they've run out of shoes?

That's not a good sign.

[dArKeR]

2. Mirror - Iraqis throw stones at UK troops

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/24by7panews/page.cfm?objectid=13271865&method=full&siteid=50143

[0007]

3. No gas?

This is a sea port town.

[IndianaGreen]

4. British troops battle to control mobs in Basra (The Guardian - Sunday)

British troops battle to control mobs in Basra

Rioters attack petrol stations in protest over dire shortage of fuel and electricity

Jamie Wilson in Baghdad
Sunday August 10, 2003
The Observer

British troops in riot gear fought to restore calm in the southern Iraqi city of Basra yesterday as dire shortages of fuel and power sparked disturbances.

One witness said soldiers fired into the air to keep back a crowd at a petrol station as Muslim clerics desperately appealed to the crowds for calm. Another said the British fired baton rounds at a crowd, wounding two young boys.

Reports that at least three soldiers were hurt in the riots had not been confirmed last night.

British commanders blamed the shortages on oil smuggling, sabotage and looting. Main roads leading into Iraq's second city were blocked as black smoke rose from fires. By late afternoon, many of the British forces appeared to have withdrawn, leaving large parts of the city in the hands of the rioters, who threw stones, burned tyres and attacked cars registered in nearby Kuwait.

Locals accuse Kuwait of buying up diesel oil being smuggled out across the desert and the sea.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1015816,00.html