In pictures: Basra clashes

British Army vehicles came under fire when troops stormed a police station in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. They were trying to free two UK soldiers who had been arrested earlier.

The soldiers were arrested after being accused of opening fire on local police. UK officials say repeated requests for the men to be handed over to coalition authorities were denied.

Iraqi protesters encircled British armoured vehicles and attacked them with stones and petrol bombs.

Tension has been building in the city since the arrest at the weekend of a senior figure in the Shia Mehdi Army militia.

Two Iraqi civilians were killed and others were injured during the unrest, according to reports.

Colonel Tim Collins, former commander of British troops in Iraq, described the Basra unrest as like "a busy night in Belfast".

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