British soldier killed and four injured as bomb hits convoy

A BRITISH soldier was killed and four more were injured in a bomb attack yesterday south of the flashpoint Iraqi town of al Amarah as they were travelling to a meeting with Iraqi security officials.

It is the second attack in the space of a week on British forces travelling to pre-arranged meetings with Iraqi officials.

The soldiers were travelling in convoy along a road about 25 miles south of the town when a bomb exploded. The injured were evacuated by helicopter. The soldier is the 88th to die in Iraq since the start of the conflict in 2003.

The attack coincided with the launch of a major offensive by Iraqi forces against insurgents in Baghdad 180 miles to the north and followed a period of increased tension in Amarah as a result of a number of assassinations of local leaders.

The commanding officer of the Staffordshire Regiment recently survived an attack in which rocket-propelled grenades were fired at his vehicle as he drove to attend a provincial council meeting.

Amarah has been the scene of most of the fiercest fighting in British-controlled southern Iraq. Twice last year it was the scene of major outbreaks of trouble and soldiers from the Black Watch regiment were involved in heavy fighting there.

Recently it has been relatively quiet, but earlier this month the town was the scene of the last deadly attack on British forces in Iraq when Guardsman Anthony James Wakefield, of the Coldstream Guards, was killed by a bomb which detonated as his patrol passed by.

There have also been indications of a deterioration in the security situation in the notoriously troublesome town, with a spate of assassinations prompting forces in the area to step up security measures.

Yesterday's attack comes a week after the murder of Shia cleric Sheik Haydar Abd-al-Zahrah al-Bahadili in Amarah.

The Ministry of Defence would not discuss yesterday's attack until the families of those involved had been informed, but Iraqi police lieutenant Karim Lueibi confirmed a roadside bomb exploded near a British convoy in the Kahla area, 25 miles south of Amarah.

Lt Lueibi said British forces sealed off the site of the attack and a helicopter arrived at the scene to evacuate casualties.

The MoD would only say that one British soldier was killed and four others injured "when a British military convoy came under attack in southern Iraq at about 9am local time".

A spokesman for the ministry said the incident appeared to be the result of an explosion and was being investigated. He said none of the injured soldiers had life-threatening wounds, but did not give further details.

The army is currently in the process of rotating the units in Iraq, with 12 Mechanised Brigade taking over from 4 Armoured Brigade, which includes the Scots Guards.

In Baghdad yesterday insurgents hit back at the crackdown by Iraqi security forces by launching a series of suicide bombings and ambushes that killed at least 17 people. The attacks came as the military announced the end of a four-day offensive in western Iraq.

Operation Lightning was launched as a direct challenge to the bloody wave of militant attacks that have killed more than 700 people since the 28 April announcement of Iraq's new Shiite-led government.

But despite the heavier-than-normal Iraqi police and army presence throughout the capital, insurgents kept up their steady pace of violence.

A suicide attacker succeeded in detonating a car bomb outside the fortified Iraqi Oil Ministry, killing two guards.

Before dawn, insurgents attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, killing nine soldiers and injuring one. Gunmen also killed two police sergeants in Dora. Another two police commandos were killed in a car bomb blast at Madain south-east of Baghdad.