British Chopper Crashes in South Iraq

A fiery melee erupted after a British helicopter was apparently shot down over a wealthy residential neighborhood of this southern city Saturday, in the latest sign of souring relations between Iraq’s majority Shiites and the U.S.-led multinational forces in the country’s south.

An Iraqi official said that a rocket brought the chopper down and that all four British soldiers aboard died in the crash. A British military official in Basra confirmed that the crash resulted in casualties but did not disclose figures or other details. If hostile fire caused the crash, it apparently would be the first downing of a British helicopter in the Shiite south.

By the time the smoke cleared and an all-night curfew was imposed in parts of the city, at least four Iraqis lay dead and 20 had been injured either in the crash or the ensuing skirmishes between British soldiers and youths throwing Molotov cocktails.

The chopper crash and riot marked a nadir in relations between Britain’s 8,500 soldiers in Iraq’s south and Basra’s Shiite Muslim population, which was oppressed under former President Saddam Hussein’s rule and initially welcomed the U.S.-led invasion three years ago.

Relations had become so embittered that Basra’s provincial authorities had cut off official communications with British military leaders here until Thursday, when dealings were restored.

“Until this incident, things seemed to be moving in a positive direction,” British Army Maj. Sebastian Muntz said in a phone conversation from Basra.

Many Iraqis say they fear that Basra, just miles from Iran and believed to be heavily under its sway, could become a battleground between London and Tehran in their dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. U.S., British and Iraqi officials have accused Iranians of interfering in Iraq by supplying weapons and training to Shiite militias, including radical cleric Muqtada Sadr’s Al Mahdi army.

Saturday’s troubles began with a thundering explosion as the helicopter crashed into a two-story home. As smoke, fire and soot rose from the crash site, British soldiers cordoned off the upscale Saee district, an area of large single-family homes near the governor’s office and several compounds housing British personnel.

Residents gathering near the scene cheered the crash and chanted, “Long live the Mahdi army.” Sadr’s militia has had numerous run-ins with British authorities in the south.

“Those who brought down this helicopter are heroes,” said a man who identified himself as Abu Khadija.

TV stations showed smoke-filled scenes of angry young men tossing gasoline-filled bottles at jumpy British troops, who responded with gunfire. The young men tossed bricks and homemade bombs at the British soldiers’ armored vehicles, eventually setting two ablaze, police and witnesses said.

British soldiers in riot gear could be seen struggling to put out flames with fire extinguishers as Iraqis carried away their wounded. Witnesses described helicopters hovering and fighter jets screeching above.

In other violence, Iraqi state media reported at least 21 people were killed and 50 injured in a car bombing today in the Shiite holy city of Karbala. Television showed footage of Iraqis struggling to rescue casualties from damaged vehicles. The explosion was downtown, a quarter-mile from the governor’s building.

In Baghdad, police officials said two car bombs that exploded almost simultaneously killed nine people and injured about 21 this morning.

A U.S. soldier who had been wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Friday and at least 20 Iraqis around the country were reported dead Saturday.

In Tikrit, a man wearing an Iraqi military uniform and a bomb strapped to his waist sneaked onto an Iraqi army base and blew himself up, killing four officers and injuring one.

A gunfight broke out Friday evening between suspected insurgents and an Iraqi army patrol in the Sunni Muslim city of Ramadi, west of the capital, leaving two dead and three injured.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, gunmen shot up a barbershop, killing the barber and injuring two people in what may be part of a wave of attacks by Sunni extremists who consider shaving of beards sinful.

The corpses of five Sunnis were taken to Baghdad’s Yarmouk Hospital on Friday night, the apparent victims of sectarian violence. Six other bodies, shot execution-style and showing signs of torture, were discovered Saturday in downtown and south Baghdad. Roadside bombs and mortar rounds in and around the capital killed two people and injured six.

Iraqi and U.S. officials hope a new full-term government will build up public confidence in the state and reduce the influence of insurgents and militias.

Talks on forming a government continued Saturday in Baghdad, with politicians in the capital’s Green Zone forging a formula for doling out Cabinet posts.

Some Shiite and Kurdish politicians pledged that a Cabinet would be named and approved by the time the 275-member Council of Representatives is scheduled to convene Wednesday, but other politicians said they doubted the government could take shape so quickly.

Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni lawmaker, said the main blocs had all but given up on the idea of appointing competent technocrats to key posts and were instead determined to abide by a sectarian spoils system. Even if the new Cabinet wins approval, he predicted, the government won’t last long under the parliamentary system now in place.

“I don’t think it will bring stability to Iraq,” he said. “I am not optimistic about this.”

U.S. officials have also hoped that a trouble-plagued multibillion-dollar reconstruction effort can bring a measure of stability to Iraq. On Saturday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tried to rebut persistent criticism of the reconstruction projects, pinning much of the blame on poor maintenance that predated the U.S.-led invasion.

Times staff writer Daragahi reported from Baghdad and special correspondent Ghanim from Basra. Times staff writer James Rainey and special correspondents in Kirkuk and Ramadi contributed to this report.