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Six British troops killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) --Six British soldiers have been killed and several were
wounded in two separate incidents near Basra in southern Iraq, the UK
Ministry of Defence said.

In the first attack six soldiers were killed, after they came under fire
near the city of al-Amarah, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) north of Iraq's
second city of Basra Tuesday.

In the second incident in the same area a further eight were injured -- one
in an initial clash and seven other Quick Reaction Force troops when their
RAF Chinook helicopter came under fire in an attempted rescue. Three of the
injured are in a serious condition.

"We very much regret to confirm that in one incident, six British personnel
have been killed," the ministry said in a statement.

"In the second incident, troops from 1 Para patrolling south of Al Amarah
came under fire.

"The patrol took one casualty and two vehicles were destroyed. In responding
to the incident, an RAF Chinook helicopter carrying a Quick Reaction Force
came under fire as it landed. Seven personnel on board the helicopter were
wounded, three of them seriously."

The ministry has said it would not provide any further details until the
next of kin had been informed but it is investigating whether the incidents
are related.

The British Minister of Defence, Geoff Hoon, is to update the House of
Commons later Tuesday.

The British deaths were the first since early May, when a soldier was killed
in a traffic accident. Baghdad had fallen to the U.S.-led coalition in
April.

British soldiers have been patrolling the southern city of Basra without
helmets and flak jackets.

British casualties have been light compared to the U.S., where almost a
soldier has been killed everyday since the declared end to the war on May 1.

Nineteen U.S. troops have been killed in hostile action with another 37 dead
in what are described as non-hostile incidents, the Pentagon said.

In the latest string of attacks, a U.S. solider was wounded and three Iraqis
were killed Tuesday in a small arms firefight at a checkpoint in Ramadi,
U.S. Central Command said in a statement. Two Iraqis were wounded, it added.

In al Daura, east of Baghdad, a military police vehicle was hit by a grenade
Monday, but bounced off and exploded under a civilian vehicle, wounding two
Iraqis.

And in Fallujah, considered by coalition forces to be a hotbed of anti-U.S.
resentment and home to some remaining supporters of former president Saddam
Hussein's regime, a group of Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades at U.S.
troops protecting a power plant Monday, witnesses said. (Full Story)

U.S. forces have launched Operation Desert Scorpion to crack down on such
attacks, confiscating weapons, including two AK-47s, one rocket-propelled
grenade, three pistols, two rifles and 100 hand grenades