World News Confusion remains over Basra raid

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BAGHDAD (AP) - Hundreds of Iraqi civilians and policemen rallied Sept. 21 in Basra to denounce "British aggression" in the rescue of two British soldiers

There has been disagreement about just what happened Sept. 19, when British armor crashed into a jail to free two British soldiers who had been arrested by Iraqi police.

According to the British, Shiite Muslim militiamen moved the two soldiers from the jail while British officials tried to negotiate their release with Iraqi officials. After raiding the jail, they rescued the soldiers in a nearby private home in the custody of Shiite militias

The Iraqi interior minister said the two soldiers never left police custody or the jail, were not handed over to militants, and that the British army acted on a "rumor" when it stormed the jail.

But Basra's governor said the two men were indeed moved from the jail. He said they were placed in the custody of the al-Mahdi Army, the militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

At first, Basra police said the two British soldiers killed a policeman before they were arrested, but later admitted the men were grabbed for behaving suspiciously and gathering information.

英兵救出で混乱続くバスラ

イラクのバスラで21日、イギリス軍が拘束されていた同国兵2人を救出するため同地の刑務所に装甲車で突入した事件に対して、市民や警察官たちにより抗議が起きた。

Shukan ST: Sept. 30, 2005

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