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Basra bloodshed shows Iraq's Shi'ite south volatile

By Peter Graff
Reuters
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; 11:52 AM

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - It was a commander's nightmare. A British helicopter down. All five on board dead in the wreckage in the city center, surrounded by a jubilant mob.

Hundreds of British troops sped to the scene. Youths attacked them with rocks, petrol bombs, explosives and mortars. They returned fire. Up to five Iraqis died in the mayhem.

But for Brigadier James Everard, who arrived in Basra just days before to command British ground forces, what matters most is what did not happen -- the crowd never swelled beyond a few hundred, the violence did not spread beyond the crash site.

"There was a moment when it could have spiked. It didn't. It went flat," he told Reuters on Wednesday. "You could sense that the venom had gone. It just turned off."

Saturday's crash of a Lynx helicopter -- police said it was brought down by a rocket -- and the riot that followed were the worst clashes in Iraq's second city since the 2003 invasion.

Britain's new Defense Secretary Des Browne felt the need to reassure parliament that Basra was not "rising up," at a time when the government hopes finally to start withdrawing troops.

British commanders say Saturday's clashes were not enough to force a radical change in tactics. Many Iraqis interviewed in the aftermath disavowed the violence.

But the events have brought home the extreme volatility that has emerged in Iraq's Shi'ite heartland, far from the Sunni Arab-led insurgency that has plagued U.S. troops further north.

It is a part of Iraq Washington and London were hoping could become a model for their eventual withdrawal, leaving the long oppressed Shi'ite majority enjoying the fruits of democracy.

LARGE CROWD

Sergeant Stuart Lansdowne arrived early at the crash scene. His men came under a hail of rocks, Molotov cocktails, grenades and homemade bombs.

"It was a constant stream of about eight hours of folks being pummeled," he said. "We couldn't clearly identify where the bombs were coming from, so we just stood and took it."

British forces are waiting for an inquiry before commenting on why the helicopter came down. Within minutes, troops arrived on foot, then in Warrior armored vehicles.

"As soon as we pulled up, there was a public order situation," said Lansdowne. "There was a large crowd that was heavily stoning, petrol bombing and blast bombing."

Eventually some 600 troops were needed to maintain a cordon around the wreckage. Everard said they shot fewer than 100 rounds, a mixture of live and plastic bullets. Every bullet had been accounted for, including those in which British troops acknowledged killing Iraqis who posed a threat.

WORSENING PICTURE

The clash comes after a year that saw the security situation in Basra worsen. British troops have been relying heavily on helicopters since traveling by road became far more dangerous with the appearance of deadlier roadside bombs a year ago.

Last September, British forces clashed with Basra police who had detained two British soldiers.

In February, after Britain moved to arrest more police they accused of links to gangs and militias, the local authorities announced a boycott on cooperation with British forces.

Yet on Sunday the local authorities in Basra announced they were lifting the three-month-old boycott.

Everard said that announcement had been planned before Saturday's crash. His forces now plan to visit every police station in the province, restoring ties with Iraqis that had been years in the making.

Iraqis want his troops to leave eventually, but only when the city is quiet.

"One of the tribal chiefs I visited the other day said: 'Keep it up. My family sleep better with Warriors on the streets,"' Everard said.

Some disagree.

Batul Abid al-Amir, 33, said: "What happened (on Saturday), though we are against it, is predictable and natural, because these forces are occupiers and they have to know that the people are fed up with their presence in their country."

(Additional reporting by Aref Mohammed)

© 2006 Reuters