From Aljazeera News:
Iraqi judge: Re-arrest British soldiers
Saturday 24 September 2005, 13:06 Makka Time, 10:06 GMT
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An Iraqi judge has issued arrest warrants for two British undercover soldiers who have been freed after a controversial British raid in the city of
Judge Raghib Hasan accused the men of killing an Iraqi policeman and wounding another, carrying unlicensed weapons and holding false identification, said Qasim al-Sabti, the head of the lawyers syndicate in the southern city, on Saturday. "All British troops in The whereabouts of the two soldiers was not clear. British forces mounted a bid to free the two soldiers on Monday by surrounding the police station where they were being held with several tanks and armoured vehicles.
But a crowd quickly gathered, angered by the death of the Iraqi policeman.
Five Iraqi civilians were killed and three British soldiers were wounded as the crowd threw petrol-bombs at armoured vehicles.
Basra authorities had said British troops also killed two Iraqi policemen during the raid.
Cooperation hurt
Later, British forces returned and armoured vehicles flattened cars parked nearby as they broke down the walls of the police station and jail.
Iraqi police said the police station |
Iraqi authorities said the jail and the police station were demolished.
The two soldiers were later freed from a private house nearby, where British military authorities believed they were being held by a local militia.
Monday's flare-up has harmed the relationship British forces were able to build with local Iraqis in and around
Officials said the
Investigation
An investigation into the events leading up to the rescue is under way by Iraqi authorities and the British military.
"We will continue to work closely with the Iraqis and the inquiry which the
"They did what they judged was appropriate at the time and I commend them for the swift and decisive action in very difficult circumstances," John Reid said.
2 comments:
Curiously the judge said he had reason to believe that the two men were not British (see BBC online report).
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Postman,
I had seen an earlier article from BBC online and did a post on that as well, but it didn't have the comment from the judge about the two not being British. I'll check into that.Thanks for letting me know.
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