![]() Iraqis riot after British deaths 08may06 A BRITISH military helicopter was apparently hit by a missile and crashed in Basra, triggering a confrontation in which jubilant Iraqis pelted British troops with stones, hurled firebombs and shouted slogans in support of a radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric. Iraqi police said four British crew members died in the crash on Saturday in the southern city. Four Iraqi adults and a child were reported killed during the ensuing melee when Shi'ite gunmen exchanged fire with British soldiers who hurried to the scene. About 30 civilians were injured. The chaotic scene was widely shown on Iraqi state television and the Al-Jazeera satellite station. The violence underscored how discontent over the presence of foreign soldiers has been growing among Iraq's majority Shi'ites, even though they have generally steered clear of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency. Police Captain Mushtaq Khazim said the helicopter went down in a vacant lot between two houses after it was struck by a shoulder-fired missile. British soldiers rushed to the site in armoured vehicles and were met by a hail of stones from a crowd of at least 250 people, many of them teenagers, who jumped for joy and raised their fists as thick smoke rose from the wreckage. As many as three armoured vehicles were set on fire, apparently with petrol bombs and a rocket-propelled grenade, but the troops inside escaped unhurt, witnesses said.
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