Four UK troops die in patrol boat attack in Iraq

BRITAIN: Four British troops were killed and three seriously wounded in an attack on a patrol boat in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence in London said.

Their boat was attacked on the Shatt al Arab river, the ministry said in a statement. The routine patrol was caught in an explosion caused by an improvised bomb, a spokesman said.

"The patrol was subject to an improvised explosive device," the ministry spokesman said.

Captain Tane Dunlop, the Multi-National forces spokesman in south Iraq, told the BBC: "The use of improvised explosive devices is very common in Iraq. It is slightly unusual in that this time it was targeting a boat." Britain has some 7,000 troops in southern Iraq, which has generally been calmer than the centre and north of the country, and 125 British armed forces personnel have died since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The latest deaths will add to pressure on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. President George W. Bush's main ally on Iraq.

Bush is pondering a shift in tactics in Iraq after his Republican party's defeat in last week's mid-term elections.

Bush and Blair whose popularity has also collapsed because of the war are seeking ways to stop attacks by insurgents and gradually draw down their troops.

London, Monday, Reuters