British and Iraqi Police Clash

So much for peaceful Basra, eh?

"Monday's clashes stemmed from the arrest by Iraqi police on Sunday of two British soldiers, whom Iraqi police accused of planting bombs. Iraqi officials described the two as undercover soldiers dressed in civilian clothes and said a shooting incident broke out when police stopped their civilian vehicle. A Western military spokesman in Basra confirmed 'an ongoing disturbance' in the city on Monday but said Iraqi and British forces were working together to quell it."

It seems the problem is not so much the Sunni insurgency, but the local religious militias that have infiltrated/battled with British and local government forces.

"In the port city of 1.5 million people on the banks of the Shatt al Arab river, residents say the local police force of 13,600 has become as much an instrument of fear as security, Washington Post correspondent Anthony Shadid reported last month. Musabah, the governor of Basra, acknowledged in an interview that the police were infiltrated by religious parties. His police chief, Hassan Sawadi, told the British newspaper the Guardian that he had lost control over three-quarters of his police force and that militiamen inside its ranks were using their posts to assassinate opponents. Soon after, Musabah said, the Interior Ministry ordered Sawadi not to speak again publicly."

Just another day in Iraq it would seem.