UK troops in Iraq under increasing attacks
Iraq-UK, Military, 5/23/2006

The number of attacks of British troops deployed in southern Iraq have almost tripled in the first four months of the current year, Defense Secretary Des Browne has revealed.

He told the parliament the attacks on multinational forces controlled by Britain in the four provinces of Basra, al-Muthanna, Dhiqar and Meysan have grown from 36 in January to 103 in April.

Provisional figures were also quoted for part of May, so far recording 32 attacks, but it was not specified up to what period the number related to.

By far the biggest number of attacks was in Basra province, increasing from 21 in January to 71 in April. The second highest was in Meysan, rising from 8 to 23 attacks in the first four months.

In Dhiqar province, the number increased from two to five, while in al Mutahanna a slight fall was recorded from five to four.

Browne also disclosed in a separate parliamentary reply that British troops on average conduct a total of "some 120 to 140 patrols by road vehicle per day" in southern Iraq.

But he refused to reply to a question on what the daily operational ability of armored vehicles deployed by UK forces was, saying that the government did not release military capabilities for reasons of security.

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  100,000 march in London against Blair's war   (3/20/2006)
  UK to reduce forces in Iraq in May   (3/14/2006)
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  News of the world: British soldiers brutally attacking Iraqis civilians   (2/13/2006)
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