Clashes erupt in Basra

British occupation forces have clashed with Iraqis in the city of Basra, leaving a freelance photographer and three Iraqis injured.

Occupation troops used force to break up the protest

British soldiers shot freelance photographer Nabil al-Jurani, who was working for the Associated Press, in the leg with a rubber bullet on Monday.

Occupation troops tried to evict dozens of protesting Iraqis from a government-owned building.

The clashes took place in front of the office of the God’s Revenge Islamic Organisation, a Shia group which is accused by some Iraqis of involvement in attacks against Sunnis and members of the former ruling Baath party.

Iraqis threw stones at the troops, who were wielding batons and using riot shields.

One protester tried to snatch a rifle from a British soldier
and was quickly beaten to the ground by other troops.

US soldier killed

A US soldier was killed on Monday when a roadside bomb exploded under a military convoy near the flashpoint Iraqi town of Falluja, a senior coalition official said.

“One US coalition soldier was killed today” about 18km northwest of Fallujah, the official said.

On Friday, a US marine was killed and several others wounded in violence there.

Aljazeera’s correspondent in Baquba reported that four Iraqi civil defence personnel were wounded on Monday morning when a homemade bomb targeting their patrol exploded in the Ghalbiyah district, west of Baquba.   

Iraqis killed

US occupation soldiers shot and killed four Iraqis in the northern city of Mosul suspected of involvement in attacks in the region.

Iraqi policemen arrive at the sitewhere Iraqis lie dead in Mosul
Iraqi policemen arrive at the sitewhere Iraqis lie dead in Mosul

Iraqi policemen arrive at the site
where Iraqis lie dead in Mosul

The Iraqis were suspected of participating in resistance activities, said US occupation officials on Monday. Two US soldiers were also injured in the clashes late on Sunday. 
 
The fighting came hours after US occupation soldiers shot dead four Iraqis in the northern city of Mosul late on Sunday.

US occupation authorities said the Iraqis were suspected of participating in anti-occupation activities. Two American soldiers were injured in clashes before the Iraqis were killed.

Earlier on Sunday, fighters fired on a convoy carrying a government minister near Mosul and in separate killings, a Canadian and Briton died in the area.

The pair had been assigned to protect foreign engineers working for General Electric Co, an occupation spokesman said on condition of anonymity.