UK show of force in Iraqi town

Locals came out in support of British soldiers

British forces in southern Iraq have sent 500 troops back to the town of Majar al-Kabir, where six military policemen were killed.

Military officials said Operation Swordfish, the first coalition patrol in the town since Tuesday's killings, would include a search for forensic evidence.

Warrior fighting vehicles, Challenger tanks and Landrovers rumbled through the town as four attack helicopters hovered above in what one British Army spokesman called "a show of teeth".

The deaths contributed to a total of 30 coalition troops killed in hostile action since the end of the conflict on 1 May.

The latest casualties include two US soldiers whose bodies were discovered 32 kilometres (20 miles) north of Baghdad after they went missing from the town of Balad on Wednesday.

'No revenge'

The return to Majar al-Kabir came after 52,000 leaflets promising no mass punishments for the killings were dropped onto the town by plane.

British forces emphasised that residents would not suffer for the sins of a few - although everything possible would be done to catch the killers.

In pictures: British 'show of teeth'

"Everyone regrets the loss of life in al Majar al-Kabir on 24 June 2003," the leaflets said.

"However it was not an incident of our making and we will return to al Majar al-Kabir, otherwise the coalition can do nothing to help your town recover from years of Saddam's misrule."

BBC correspondent Peter Greste says, for a small rural community this was a solid show of force.

Shia Muslim clerics and local officials emerged to greet the British troops near the central marketplace in a ceremony that correspondents said was aimed at putting ill-feeling to rest.

"The people want peace, not surrender - peace with honour, not with disorder," said one of the clerics, Sheikh Abu Salam al-Saedi, who had come to the town from the regional capital Basra.

The Iraqis wanted to put the killings of the military policemen "in the past", he said, as about 200 local people watched the ceremony.

Local support

Some Iraqis showed their support of the British soldiers by marching in the town. They said they wanted the soldiers on the streets to maintain law and order.

A British officer, Captain Guy Winter, said the troops were not in Majar al-Kabir "for retribution".

"We are here to re-establish communications and get the [rebuilding] process back on the road," he added.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman also said they were there as part of the investigation into the deaths.

"The force went in to search for any forensic evidence which will help the investigation into the deaths.

"They will probably start at the police station where the men died."

Details unclear

Full details of Tuesday's events may never be known, but reports say at least four Iraqis also died as the military policemen attempted to hold back a crowd.

The killings apparently happened when a demonstration against the searching of houses for illegal weapons got out of hand.

Local opposition to the searches had provoked anti-British violence earlier in the day, but soldiers managed to hold off an angry crowd until reinforcements arrived. However, seven soldiers were injured in that fight.