British troops restored badly needed electricity to parts of Basra and supervised distribution of gasoline yesterday after two days of protests over fuel and power shortages, and a US soldier was killed and two others wounded in a bomb attack in northern Iraq.
The soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division came under attack from a homemade bomb in front of the police station they were guarding in Baqouba, 70km north of Baghdad, late Sunday, Major Mark Solomons said.
The death brought to 57 the number of US troops killed in action since May 1, when US President George W. Bush declared major combat over.
In Basra, a British patrol returned fire after it came under attack late Sunday, wounding two assailants, British military spokesman Captain Hisham Halawi said. Two others escaped and were being pursued, he said. There were no British casualties.
Basra had been one of the quietest cities in the country. But on the second day of protests Sunday, an Iraqi protester and a Nepalese security guard were shot dead.
The protester was killed after an angry crowd tried to block four vehicles crossing the main bridge leading to the airport and the British military headquarters. It was not clear who shot the demonstrator.
The dead guard worked for Global Security, a private company hired to provide security and other services for coalition bases throughout the country. The guard was bringing mail from Kuwait to UN staff in Basra. He was shot by an unknown assailant as a two-car convoy neared an intersection in the center of the city, coalition spokesman Iain Pickard said.
British troops patrolling the area gave away their own fuel to calm the demonstrators, coalition spokesman Charles Heatly said from Baghdad.
Over the weekend, about 1,000 protesters blocked roads with rows of burning tires and threw rocks at vehicles and British troops, who suffered only minor injuries, Halawi said.
"The town is calm this morning. People have had power since last night, and petrol is getting at petrol stations," he said.
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