British troops killed up to 20 Iraqis as the soldiers fought their way out of a series of three roadside ambushes in southern Iraq, a British military spokesman in Iraq says.
Two British soldiers were wounded when a convoy headed north on Friday toward the city of Amara from their main base at Basra came under attack. Troops returned fire "to save their lives".
A second patrol which came to the rescue was ambushed by guerrillas who detonated a roadside bomb and opened fire with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns, the spokesman said. In all, there were three attacks, he added.
"About 20 were killed and 13 captured," the spokesman said, adding that some Iraqis were being treated for wounds.
"We regret they were forced to respond but we will protect our lives," he said.
The British took no further casualties and the two initially wounded were being treated. A Defence Ministry spokesman in London, who declined to identify the regiment involved, added that the wounded were expected to survive.
The spokesman in Iraq said it was not yet clear who the attackers were. The prisoners were being questioned.
The ambushes came on a day of widespread violence across southern Iraq, as fighters from Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia struck back at U.S.-led coalition forces.
In Samawa, at the northern end of the British-run area of operations, troops clashed with Sadr's militiamen overnight, the British spokesman in Iraq said, but sustained no casualties. Fighters had set up roadblocks in the town and resisted attempts by Iraqi police to remove them, he said.
Dutch and Japanese troops are based in Samawa.
In Nassiriya, controlled by Italian forces, militiamen besieged the offices of the occupation authority, firing rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the British spokesman said. "A number of militia are believed to have been killed," he added.
An Italian spokesman in the building said fighting had died down after dawn but it was still unclear whether the guerrillas were in control of the town centre.
Two British soldiers were wounded when a convoy headed north on Friday toward the city of Amara from their main base at Basra came under attack. Troops returned fire "to save their lives".
A second patrol which came to the rescue was ambushed by guerrillas who detonated a roadside bomb and opened fire with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns, the spokesman said. In all, there were three attacks, he added.
"About 20 were killed and 13 captured," the spokesman said, adding that some Iraqis were being treated for wounds.
"We regret they were forced to respond but we will protect our lives," he said.
The British took no further casualties and the two initially wounded were being treated. A Defence Ministry spokesman in London, who declined to identify the regiment involved, added that the wounded were expected to survive.
The spokesman in Iraq said it was not yet clear who the attackers were. The prisoners were being questioned.
The ambushes came on a day of widespread violence across southern Iraq, as fighters from Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia struck back at U.S.-led coalition forces.
In Samawa, at the northern end of the British-run area of operations, troops clashed with Sadr's militiamen overnight, the British spokesman in Iraq said, but sustained no casualties. Fighters had set up roadblocks in the town and resisted attempts by Iraqi police to remove them, he said.
Dutch and Japanese troops are based in Samawa.
In Nassiriya, controlled by Italian forces, militiamen besieged the offices of the occupation authority, firing rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the British spokesman said. "A number of militia are believed to have been killed," he added.
An Italian spokesman in the building said fighting had died down after dawn but it was still unclear whether the guerrillas were in control of the town centre.
