Special report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Two British soldiers were killed near the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Monday while their military convoy was attacked, the British military said.

A British (L) soldier escorts a wounded colleague to a waiting British helicopter near the scene of a roadside bomb attack near Basra in southern Iraq, Sept. 4, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    Media reports reaching here quoted a British military spokesman as saying that the two soldiers were killed when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb.

    Meanwhile, Britain's Ministry of Defense has confirmed that "two British soldiers have died as a result of an attack on a British patrol near the town of Ad Dayr, north of Basra City earlier today."

    The patrol was subject to an attack by a roadside bomb and small arms fire, the ministry said in a statement.

    "One other British soldier was seriously injured, and a further one suffered minor injuries," it added.

    The incident came as there has been a stand-off between rival Shiite militias and clashes between British forces and groups opposed to the US-led coalition forces in Iraq. Enditem