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LONDON, Wednesday (AFP) Six British military police were killed and eight other soldiers wounded in southern Iraq, in the first known fatal clash involving British troops since the end of the Iraq war on May 1.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said in an emergency statement to parliament in London that two incidents had taken place at roughly the same time, as politicians questioned whether Britain needed to reinforce its military presence in Iraq.

Six troops were killed near Al Amarah, 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of the southern city of Basra.

All were members of Britain's Royal Military Police and were engaged in training the local Iraqi police, Hoon told the House of Commons.

"Initial information suggests they may have been involved in an incident at a police station in Al Majar Al Kabir," south of Al Amarah, where their bodies were found around midday British time (1100 GMT), Hoon said.

As army commanders were seeking to establish whether the attack was an isolated incident or the start of a concerted guerrilla campaign against coalition forces, Hoon said that an investigation had been launched into its exact circumstances.

The Defence secretary said the second attack occurred at about 7:30 am British time (0630 GMT) and involved members of the 1st battalion of the Parachute Regiment who were conducting a routine patrol of Al Majar Al Kabir.

"The two vehicles in which they were travelling were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and rifle fire from a large number of Iraqi gunmen," Hoon said.

"British troops returned fire and called for assistance. A quick reaction force including Scimitar vehicles, additional troops and a Chinook CH-47 helicopter was despatched to provide assistance."

Meanwhile the UN special representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, called for a swift handover of sovereignty to Iraq, saying Iraqis were becoming impatient about their uncertain political future.

The seasoned Brazilian diplomat said Iraqis' main concerns were the lack of security, stability and employment, but beyond that people were yearning for political power free from the US-led coalition which governs post-war Iraq.

"They are indeed impatient about seeing a body emerge that is truly Iraqi and that assumes interim executive functions for the management of their day-to-day affairs of this country.

"This is their principal, unanimous, across-the-board aspiration," Vieira de Mello said during his first news conference since arriving in Baghdad early June. "No foreigner can actually govern this country. Only Iraqis have the capacity and the right to administer Iraq. But obviously the longer it takes, the greater frustration and impatience." Appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Vieira de Mello will have a four-month mission to coordinate UN relief efforts but has no executive power to counterbalance the rule of the coalition headed by US civilian Paul Bremer.

In Washington, a senior US senator called for a full-fledged congressional investigation into possible US intelligence failures or distortions leading up to the war on Iraq.

Senator Robert Byrd, one of the most outspoken critics of US policy in Iraq, rejected as inadequate closed door intelligence reviews currently underway in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Meanwhile at UN headquarters, in the first UN session to examine the rebuilding of post-war Iraq, the nation's lack of security amid growing armed resistance and criminal activity were top of the agenda Tuesday.

At the conclusion of the informal meeting, the UN Development Program (UNDP), whose session was attended by 52 nations, announced that a conference of donor countries for the reconstruction of Iraq would take place in October. Earlier the State Department said in a report the United States wants to set Iraq as an example of democratization for the rest of the Middle East.

"We look forward to the formation of a democratic government in Iraq that can serve as an example in the region," said the department's first annual report on US efforts to encourage democracy and human rights worldwide.

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