British soldier wounded in Basra
A British soldier has been wounded by a sniper in southern Iraq - the first such incident since the war ended.
Hidden gunmen opened fire on the second lieutenant as he was leading a routine patrol of 25 men in the British-controlled zone near Basra.
The officer, aged in his early twenties, was hit in the leg by snipers concealed by shrubs about 200 metres away. His condition is said to be stable and not life-threatening.
He is a member of First Battalion, King's Regiment, based at Catterick in North Yorkshire.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said his next of kin are being informed.
The attack will add to growing concern over the safety of British troops in Iraq. It comes two weeks after six Royal Military Police were executed 100 miles north of Basra in Al Majar al-Kabir.
The sniper attack, which came during darkness, is similar to the kind of assaults American troops in the north of the country are regularly encountering.
In the latest violence, three American soldiers were killed in 24 hours over Sunday and yesterday.
One, who was travelling in a military convoy, died when a roadside bomb went off.
Another was shot dead as he had a drink in the shade at Baghdad University. The third died after a night-time gun battle in the troubled Sunni Muslim neighbourhood of Azamiyah.
Similar incidents have claimed the lives of more than 20 US troops around Baghdad since the end of the war. Now there are signs that the civilian population of Basra are turning against the occupying British forces.
Law and order has still not been restored and public services are yet to start functioning. As food and clean water become more scarce, incidents of looting and violence are common.
